Nobody Said it was Easy
by hiding.my.heart
Summary: Nobody said life was easy, but sometimes that one person can make it all worth the while. Ezria AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So I thought up this story when I was half asleep and I'm not sure if it's even that good haha! I have the first couple of chapters already written though and the rest of the story planned out so if I continue it updates will be much quicker than my other stories.**

**Hope you like it!**

Ezra huffed in annoyance as he ran another angry hand through his hair. He felt tears pricking at the sides of his eyes and quickly wiped them away before they could fall. He briskly walked through the streets of New York City taking a deep breath of the crisp night air. Stuffing his hands into his coat pockets he picked up his pace, dodging other civilians walking around too.

As he continued on, the crowd of people surrounding him got less and less until it was only the occasional person or two. The bright lights of Times Square were far behind him by now as he turned a corner the only light now coming from a buzzing street lamp. He finally stopped for a moment to catch his breath leaning against a brick wall. The smell of cold concrete and car exhaust filled his nose as he closed his eyes.

"I'll never forgive them," he muttered to himself as he thought back to the previous hour's events.

He heard a soft rustling and saw the move of a shadow causing him to stand up straighter. He swallowed thickly looking around the road he resided on. He grasped his phone inside of his pocket, ready to pull it out in case he needed to. He saw a shadow slowly walking towards him and only until they stepped under the light did he realize it was a woman. He breathed a sigh of relief letting go of his phone as he took in the figure's appearance.

She was wearing a short black body con dress and towering black heels. He could see her ribs through the dress and her face was somewhat gaunt, but she still one of the most beautiful girls Ezra had ever seen. Her chestnut brown hair was slightly messy but it still cascaded down her shoulders in delicate curls.

"Are you ok?" she asked him quietly. She stepped closer to Ezra her hazel eyes boring into him.

"Maybe I can help you feel better," she whispered as she took in Ezra's disheveled appearance.

Ezra didn't know what compelled him to walk closer to this woman or pull out the two 50's from his wallet when she said it would be 100 dollars. Perhaps it was the aftermath of what had just happened to him earlier or how hauntingly pretty this girl was. He didn't think he would ever know.

He saw the girl visibly relax a small smile gracing her pink supple lips.

"Thanks," she murmured taking the green bills and storing it in her bra. She took Ezra's hand leading him farther down the street. Ezra took a deep breath, still not believing what was happening, as he was led to some mystery location. The woman turned a corner still pulling him along until they came to an abandoned building. The woman looked around before quickly stepping inside.

The bright light of the full moon casted an eerie glow in the building as it streamed in through the cracked windows. Ezra tentatively stepped farther into the dark room and nervously shifted.

The woman turned to face him smiling at his weariness of how to go about this. She slowly brought her fingers to his chest and dragged the zipper of his coat down. She hastily untucked his dress shirt from his pants before quickly popping each clear button from its confines. She ran her hands along Ezra's taut stomach making him shiver. She placed her hands inside his jeans and squeezed him eliciting a groan from deep within his throat.

"You want everything or just sex?" Her hot breath against his ear made him grown even harder as he mumbled that just sex was ok.

The girl undid the top button of his jeans before pulling the fly down. She dragged them down his legs taking his boxers with them. She hiked up her dress so that it rested around her hips and Ezra saw she wasn't wearing any panties. She turned to face the wall of the building and leaned against her outstretched hands as she bent her body in front of Ezra. He gripped her hips and slowly pushed into her, reveling in the feeling of skin to skin contact.

He slowly picked up speed each thrust harder than the one before it until he felt the woman tense beneath him. He felt her walls clench around him sending him over the edge as he came alongside her.

He pulled out of her, immediately feeling cold at the loss of contact. He pulled his boxers and jeans up and fastened the zipper and button before the realization of what he'd just did hit him.

Ezra knew he had a mortified expression across his face causing the woman to look at him with concern.

"You ok," the woman asked as she fixed her dress back into place.

Ezra ran a hand through his hair, exhaling harshly.

"I-I just had sex with a prostitute," he choked out.

He saw the woman flinch at his statement and immediately regretted saying it.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that."

He saw the woman bite her lip and take a deep breath as her eyes down casted. "Except you did," she shrugged.

"No…I didn't" he assured her. He awkwardly placed his hand on her shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture.

A gust of wind blew by causing the woman to shiver and pull her arms tightly around her body. Ezra saw how skinny her arms were as she clutched herself tighter before she turned to walk away.

"Have you eaten today?" Ezra wondered. Judging by her appearance he guessed her meals were few and far between and felt like maybe he should have given her more money.

She turned back to face him and shook her head, "I was just going to go grab something," she explained referring to what he had just paid her.

"Can I buy you a meal?" he asked. He already felt bad about her situation not to mention what he had said to her and felt it was the least he could do.

"You've technically already bought me at least a month's worth of food, so you've already done more than enough." She smiled appreciatively.

Ezra quickly did the math in his head and by what she just said she was eating about 3 dollars of food a day.

"Please," Ezra asked.

"I'm not some charity case," she snapped.

"No, but whether you want to admit it or not you do need some help and I'm not leaving until you let me buy you a real dinner."

The woman sighed and shook her head before mumbling a, "Fine."

Ezra gave her a triumphant smile as they walked side by side out of the abandoned building. The walk to the restaurant Ezra was taking them too, was silent, but soon they arrived. It was a small pizza shop a couple of blocks down called Joe's Pizzeria. Ezra looked down at the frail women next to him and practically saw the desire in her eyes as she stared at the slices on peoples plates.

Ezra stepped up to the register and ordered two slices of cheese for himself and looked down at the woman who said cheese was fine for her too. The man behind the counter grabbed four slices of their famous cheese pizza and let it heat up in the oven while Ezra paid. The employee fished the pizza out of the dark oven and put them on two plates handing one to Ezra and the woman.

Ezra walked towards the back of the restaurant and found a table for the two of them. He pulled out the chair for the woman who smiled gratefully at him.

Ezra watched as the woman in front of him practically devoured her pizza and he felt a twinge of sadness creep through him as he realized just how sacred this food was to her.

"By the way," Ezra smiled, "I'm Ezra."

"Aria," she replied.

"That's a beautiful name," Ezra commented as he took a bite of his crust.

"Thanks," she said as she curled a piece of her hair behind her ear.

They happened to be sitting next to a juke box which Ezra decided to flip through.

"Want to pick a song?" Ezra asked looking at Aria.

"That's ok," Aria shook her head, "You can pick."

Ezra tapped his finger on his chin as if he was thinking intently before finally pressing a song.

"B26," he announced.

A soft guitar began to play, followed by a low melodic voice.

"I like this, what's it called?" Aria tilted her head to the side as she took another bite of her food.

"Happiness by The Fray," Ezra told her. He smiled at Aria as he saw her slightly bob her head as she looked down at her food.

After they finished their meals an awkward "what do we do next" silence filled the air.

"So where do you usually sleep?" Ezra asked. He knew it was somewhat rude to be asking this girl he hardly knew all these questions, but he felt this strange need to make sure this woman would be ok.

"I usually go to the homeless shelter, but if that's filled up I just find somewhere on the street," Aria explained, shrugging as if it was no big deal. "Speaking of which, do you know what time it is?"

Ezra pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time before responding, "9:00."

"Crap," she sighed. "Shelter closes at eight." She said when she saw Ezra give her a confused expression.

Ezra saw the slight look of panic in her eyes as she realized she would have to spend another night on the sidewalk. "You can uh stay at my place, if you want," Ezra proposed.

"No, I can't… but thank you," Aria responded. She shifted in her seat and looked down at her hands staring at an imaginary spot.

"Aria, please," Ezra asked. "I wouldn't be able to just leave you on the side of the street and walk away."

"Thank you for being so nice to me, but I can't ask you to do that."

"You're not asking," Ezra shook his head, "I'm offering."

Ezra saw Aria's eyes become glassy, extreme appreciation reflected in them.

"I'm the reason you didn't get back to the shelter on time so please just let me do this. And I don't really feel like being alone right now, and I don't think you do either."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Of course," he nodded.

… "Your apartment's really nice," Aria smiled as she looked around.

"Thanks," Ezra smiled back. "Do um, do you wanna borrow some clothes? That dress doesn't really look comfortable."

"That's really nice of you but I don't need too," Aria blushed and put her head down. Ezra waved his hand and quickly walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of his boxers, one of his smallest pairs of sweatpants and a big sweatshirt. He walked back over to Aria and held out the items.

"Keep them," he said.

Aria backed up and held her hands up, "Ezra…no."

"Yes," he stated and put the clothing into her arms. "The bathroom's down the hall, second door on the left."

Aria shook her head and stared at him incredulously, "Thank you," she murmured before walking in the direction he'd pointed.

Aria quickly changed into the clothes he had given her and met Ezra back in his living room after he had changed into more comfortable clothing too.

"I'm not really sure if this couch will be too comfortable, but I can get some extra pillows or blankets or something," Ezra rambled as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I've been sleeping on metal cots or the sidewalk for years, Ezra," Aria laughed. "This will probably be the best night of sleep I'll ever have," she quietly admitted.

"I'm sorry," Ezra murmured.

"For what?" Aria asked, tilting her head.

"That you have to live like this," Ezra explained.

Aria shrugged and gave him a thankful smile, "I get by."

Ezra lips curled up the slightest as he stared at the girl in front of him. He was so impressed that someone so small could be so strong even when life had obviously thrown them so many obstacles.

"Ezra?" Aria laughed as she waved her hands in front of his face.

"S-sorry," he stuttered a light pink tint coloring his cheeks. "I'll go grab those pillows," he quickly said, before disappearing down the hallway to his office. He ran hand through his hair silently cursing to himself that she had caught him staring. He turned on the light to the room a shimmering light catching his eye. He walked over to the table in the corner and picked up the gold man's watch that lied there. The day's events flashed through his mind as he grasped the metal tightly in his hand. His jaw tensed as he threw the watch across the room and watched it hit the wall making a small dent.

He breathed heavily and ran his hands down his face. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard quiet footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Aria standing there, a look of concern etched across her face.

"I heard a crash," she said. She curled a piece of hair behind her ear, and cautiously glanced at the watch that lied in the middle of the hardwood floors.

"Sorry," Ezra breathed. He grabbed the two pillows that were placed on the couch in the room before handing them to her. "Here," he said.

"Thank you," Aria stated as she looked down at the pillows in her arms. "For everything."

Ezra nodded and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets.

"Good night," she smiled.

"Good night," he smiled back. He watched Aria leave the room and heard her settling into the couch. He leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep and forget everything that happened today. Well almost everything. Even though the way he and Aria met was not ideal, there was definitely something about her that drew him in.

He sighed and shut off the light to the room and walked to his own bedroom. He collapsed onto his mattress, not even bothering to change out of his clothes. He untied each of his shoes and dropped them off the side of his bed before letting sleep overtake him.

Ezra squinted his eyes open, a stream of light through the window waking him up. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, before turning to the side of the bed and standing. He remembered everything with Aria and walked out of his room to go find her. He expected to see her still sleeping on his couch and was surprised to find her not there. He walked closer and realized that the blanket he always had on his couch was gone too. He looked around the room and walked into the kitchen and saw his bowl of fruit was empty also.

It surprised him when he felt a pang of sadness that she had left. He sighed knowing he was crazy to think anything could have ever worked out between them. At least he knew she would be a little better off, now that she had his blanket and at least some food. He took a quick shower before deciding to make some breakfast.

His stomach growled as he rummaged through his cabinet's for something to eat. He pulled out a box of pop tarts put them into his toaster when he heard a knock at his door. His furrowed his brow, not expecting anyone before walking to the door. He opened it, surprised to see Aria standing in front of him.

She looked up at him with wide eyes and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry," she whispered reaching out to give him his blanket and the fruit she had taken. "I panicked."

"Why'd you come back?" Ezra asked.

"You were _so_ nice to me," she stressed, "and I couldn't go through with it."

"To be honest, if I was in your situation I probably would have done the same thing," he said, "And you know, I was actually just about to have a pop tart for breakfast and you're welcome to join me," Ezra proposed. He flashed her a smile and silently hoped she would say yes.

"That's ok, I should probably go," she murmured. She looked down at her hands knotting them together.

Ezra placed his finger under her chin tilting her head up to look at him. "Where?" he pointed out. "Now come on," he grabbed the things she was holding and put it on the small table next to the door before grasping her hand. He took note of how cold it was as he tugged her through his apartment to his kitchen.

He left her at the bar stools that looked over his counter while he grabbed the pop tarts out of the toaster and two plates. He handed her his as they each sat in one chair.

"I haven't eaten a pop tart in years," Aria laughed. She took a bite of the sugary square savoring the taste as she closed her eyes.

"It's literally the only thing I can make without burning this place down," Ezra chuckled. Aria looked at him and smiled as she took another bite.

Once they were both finished Ezra grabbed his plate and stood up to grab Aria's realizing just how close he was to her. The proximity ignited a spark within him that spread as he watched Aria part her lips and stare up at him with her captivating hazel orbs. Ezra swallowed as he looked into her eyes their chests practically touching.

Aria was the first to break eye contact and Ezra could see a ghost of a smile playing at her lips. Ezra cleared his throat as he hurriedly went to put the dishes in the sink.

He placed the plates in, feeling Aria's eyes on him. He turned around and leaned against the counter across from where she was sitting facing her.

"Can I ask you something?" Aria voice was soft, tentative. She ran her fingers along the cuffs of the sweatshirt Ezra had given her yesterday before looking up at him.

"Of course," he nodded.

"What made you say yes that night?" Her eyes held a pleading look as she tried to comprehend what would compel Ezra to do what he did.

Ezra sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he went to sit on the bar stool next to her.

"My brother had been staying over here while he was visiting," he started. "About an hour before I met you I caught him and my girlfriend, well now ex-girlfriend, you know," he motioned with his hands. "That watch I threw was actually his."

"So you were angry and wanted to get back at her," Aria clarified.

"Partly," Ezra said. He shook his head as he looked at a spot on the floor. He smiled as he continued, "And I still don't know what, but something about you really caught my interest."

Aria blushed as Ezra looked at her, before glancing around the room. Her eyes landed on the clock, noticing it was already one.

"Need to be somewhere?" Ezra asked once he saw where she was looking.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm just wondering, you have a really nice apartment in New York City…don't you have to go to a job or something?"

"I'm an author," Ezra explained.

"Really?" Ezra watched Aria's eyes light up and look at him as if that was the most impressive thing anyone had ever told her.

"Yeah," Ezra smiled. "I actually just published my second book about a month ago."

"What's it called?" Aria incredulously asked. Her smile practically took up her whole face as she awaited his answer.

"Nobody said it was Easy," he answered. He saw her lips part and her eyes widen as she looked at him.

"You're Ezra _Fitz_?" she whispered.

"The one and only," he laughed as he held out his hands to the sides.

"That's my favorite book," she murmured. "It's the only thing I've ever spent money on that wasn't food or clothes," she admitted.

"I'm glad you liked it," Ezra said a smile spreading across his face.

"Ezra, I loved it," she stressed. "That book was literally the only thing keeping me going at times," she stated.

Ezra realized that maybe the reason he felt such a strong connection with her was because he had basically written a parallel character to her. His book followed the lives of different people he had created all of them faced with some obstacle in life. One of them had been a homeless girl who he realized was strangely similar to Aria.

"Daisy," they both said at the same time.

Ezra smiled and nodded, "I named her after Daisy in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald is my favorite author."

"Me too," Aria placed her hand against her chest.

"So you like to read?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah," Aria responded. "I used to write too. I'd always wanted to be an author like you."

"What's stopping you now?" Ezra shrugged his shoulders.

"Ezra," Aria gave him a look like it should have been obvious why she wasn't writing now. "I live on the streets which doesn't really lend much time for writing."

"I was actually thinking about something," Ezra announced. "Maybe you could stay here until you get back up on your feet," he proposed. He bit his lip anxiously waiting for her reaction to what he had just suggested.

"Ezra, that's so, so sweet of you," she said, "But really you've already done way, way too much."

"Please," he begged taking her smaller hand in his. "I'm going to be living alone now and I think we could both use the company." He saw the internal struggle in Aria's eyes as she contemplated what he was saying.

"I won't let you say no," he tried to convince her.

"Remember in your book when Daisy described every person that gave her money, even if was only a few cents, like an angel?" Aria wondered

Ezra nodded impressed that she remembered that line.

"That's you," she gave him a sad smile.

Ezra smiled, "So will you stay, please," he asked. Aria bit her lip and looked into Ezra's eyes.

"However," Ezra added, "If you do stay you have to promise to not go running off into the night again," he held out his pinky finger towards her.

"Ok," Aria breathed as she locked her finger with his a gleaming smile stretching across her face.

The rest of the day was spent talking about their likes and interests, basically just getting to know each other better. Ezra ended up calling in Chinese food for dinner which was greatly appreciated by Aria, who hadn't had that style of food in quite some time.

"Do you think I could take a shower?" Aria nervously asked as Ezra threw away the last of the take-out boxes.

"Oh of course,"" Ezra exclaimed, mentally scolding himself for not remembering to offer.

He led her down to the bathroom across from his bedroom and held out his hand in front of the room. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Aria smiled. She disappeared into the room, while Ezra decided to go watch TV in his room.

About ten minutes later, Ezra heard the water shut off and Aria call for his name. He jumped up from his place on his bed and walked over to the door to the bathroom. He cautiously knocked and heard a "Come in" from inside. He peeked his head through and saw Aria peering around the shower curtain at him. Ezra breath hitched in his throat as he looked at Aria, her dark, wet hair, framing her face. He saw a glimpse of the curve of her side, but most of her was covered by the white curtain.

Aria blushed when she noticed him staring. "Can I have a towel?"

Ezra snapped out of his daze a red tint spreading over his own cheeks. He rushed out of the bathroom to the linen closet down the hall, and grabbed a big white towel. He raced back to the bathroom and quickly handed it to her.

"Sorry," he shook his head. "I completely forgot."

"It's ok," she smiled. "Thanks," she said taking the towel from his hand.

Ezra headed back to his room lying down on his bed while he flipped through the numerous channels. He saw movement and looked up to see Aria standing in the doorway, still dressed in the sweats and shirt he had given her.

"I wasn't sure where to put this," Aria held up the towel Ezra had given her.

"You can just throw it on the floor," Ezra said, "the maid will grab it tomorrow," he explained.

"Are you sure?" Aria widened her eyes.

"Yes," Ezra laughed. He watched Aria with amusement as she awkwardly placed the towel on the floor of his room.

"Uh you wanna watch TV with me? Ezra asked. He was still somewhat flustered from when she had caught him staring and didn't know how well sitting in a bed with her would go over.

"Ok," she shrugged. She sat down on the left side, sitting cross-legged.

They watched some random reality show on TLC a more comfortable silence filling the air.

"Can I ask you something?" Ezra said repeating Aria's words from earlier.

"Sure," she replied. Ezra turned to face her wondering whether or not he should say what he was going to.

"How did you get into this situation?" He murmured.

He saw Aria's face fall the slightest before she regained her composure and curled a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"My parents kicked me out of the house at sixteen," she explained. "I had to survive somehow."

"Wow," Ezra breathed. "Why'd you get kicked out?"

"It's a really long story," Aria waved her hand her voice cracking the slightest on the last word. Ezra got the feeling it was a sore topic and not something she wanted to discuss and didn't press the issue.

"You want to see a really funny show?" Ezra asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Sure," she smiled.

Ezra flipped to The Office and soon they were both doubled over in laughter.

"I don't think I've actually laughed in years," Aria sighed, once she had caught her breath.

"It's a beautiful sound," Ezra said as he stared down at Aria. He saw her blush and shake her head before turning back to the T.V.

About an hour later Ezra felt a shift in the bed and looked over to see Aria had fallen asleep. She had shifted so she was facing Ezra her chest rising and falling with every breath. Ezra still couldn't believe how beautiful she was sometimes. A piece of hair had fallen across her face when she moved and Ezra softly brushed it away with his fingers.

He placed the comforter across her small body, before slipping into the bed himself. His last image was of her peaceful face, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**If I get a good amount of reviews and it seems like you guys like it I'll update it right away!**


	2. Chapter 2

**When I saw I got 32 reviews I literally almost started crying. Thank you all soooooo much!**

** Also, if any of you guys have a twitter I'm going to be posting updates and stuff on that and I also follow back! It's hidingmyheart10**

Ezra breathed in a soft breath, the scent of shampoo filling his nose. He buried his face further into the source, silky hair tickling his cheek. He opened his eyes to find Aria curled up to his chest, one of her arms draped across his waist. Ezra saw his own arms were wrapped around her petite frame and their legs were tangled together. He reveled for a moment in the comfort of sleeping next to someone again, before he felt Aria stir.

She took an intake of breath before opening her eyes and looking up at Ezra's face. Her eyes widened in fear once she realized where she was, before she quickly scrambled out of Ezra's embrace. She practically fell off the bed and stood at the opposite side her cheeks a flaming red.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she exclaimed her blush spreading further across her face. "I didn't even realize." She looked in horror at Ezra who was watching her with amusement as she continued to stand their completely mortified.

"You have to admit it _was_ kind of nice," Ezra teased.

Aria squirmed under Ezra's stare and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep there," she murmured.

Ezra lifted himself out of his bed and went to stand in front of Aria.

"Aria, its ok," he laughed as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

Ezra saw that Aria didn't believe him as she looked up at him nervously.

""I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.

"Your loss," Ezra shrugged. He saw the corners of Aria's lips tug up the slightest as she rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm going to go take a shower, but you're welcome to anything in my kitchen," Ezra explained as he walked over to his dresser in search of new clothes.

"Ok," Aria nodded. "Thank you."

Ezra smiled at her before grabbing a towel off the chair in the corner of his room before walking into his connecting bathroom.

10 minutes later Ezra emerged from his bedroom and saw Aria sitting at his kitchen table with two plates of eggs and bacon.

"You cook?" Ezra asked as he took in the mouthwatering smell coming from his kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind," Aria said. "But I really wanted to thank you again for everything you've done."

Ezra smiled. "You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," Aria assured him.

Ezra sat down at the table across from her immediately digging into the meal.

"This is really good," Ezra mumbled as he continued to fill his mouth with more food.

"Thanks," Aria smiled.

"So I was thinking today we could go shopping for anything you might need," Ezra said as he stood up from the table to grab a glass.

"I don't really have much money," Aria confessed as she pushed around the food on her plate.

Ezra shook his head, "You don't need to pay."

"I'll feel horrible if I let you though," Aria said.

"Well, when you become the world renowned author like I know you will, you can pay me back," Ezra explained. He held up the carton of orange juice towards Aria to which she shook her head.

"And if I don't become anything?" Aria asked as Ezra returned to the table.

"Then you can pay me by making eggs and bacon every morning," Ezra smiled as he held up a forkful of food.

Aria quietly laughed as she resumed eating while Ezra did the same.

…..

Ezra and Aria had gone to a supermarket and gotten everything Aria would need for herself before deciding to go clothing shopping.

"This is definitely something you need," Ezra said as he held up a pure black string bikini.

"Ezra!" Aria laughed.

"Every girl needs a bathing suit," Ezra held up one finger, "This would look really good on you," he said putting up another, "And there's a pool at the apartment," he finished holding up three fingers.

"Thank you," Aria blushed, a small smile appearing on her face, "But I actually don't know how to swim," she admitted.

"More the reason for you to get it, I can teach you!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Ezra," Aria said. She gave him an unsure look and bit her lip, which Ezra noticed she seemed to do quite a lot.

"Swimming is fun," Ezra reasoned, "And honestly when is the last time you had fun?"

"Exactly," Ezra said when Aria hadn't answered. "And I promise I won't let you drown," Ezra held up three fingers as if he were a boy scout, earning a giggle from Aria.

Ezra put the bathing suit around his arm with the other clothes they had picked out, before placing his hand on Aria's back and leading her to the dressing rooms. Ezra swallowed as the heat from her back radiated to his fingertips her spine moving with every step she took. Ezra didn't understand how one person could have such an effect on him, especially when he wasn't even doing anything remotely more than platonic. He looked down at her chestnut brown hair, each curl bouncing slightly as they walked further.

Eventually they made it to the dressing rooms and Ezra reluctantly removed is hand. He sat in one of the chairs outside and waited while she tried everything on. Luckily they were the only people there and this store didn't have someone monitoring how many items you brought in so Aria was able to find a room right away.

Ezra leaned his head against the wall behind the chair lightly pinching the bridge of his nose. He'd met Aria less than 36 hours ago, yet somehow she was all he could think about. It pained him to imagine everything she had gone through especially since she was so selfless. It had literally taken him 20 minutes to convince her she could buy make-up if she wanted after she had argued it wasn't a necessity and she wouldn't make him spend more money than he had to.

Ezra was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a soft grunt followed by an exasperated sigh.

"You ok in there," Ezra laughed. He walked closer to her room figuring he wouldn't get in trouble since there were no other women there.

Aria opened the door slightly surprised to find Ezra standing right there.

"Can you help me with these buttons on the back of this shirt?" She timidly asked.

"Sure," Ezra replied before her even knew what he was saying. His breath hitched in his throat as she turned around sweeping her hair all to one side.

"Somehow I was able to do it when I got it on, but trying to get this off has literally been a nightmare," she laughed.

Ezra nervously laughed along with her as he tentatively stepped forward. She was able to get the two closest to her neck done and the two at the bottom but the three in the middle were still fastened.

Ezra undid the first button the pads of his fingers grazing the silky skin of her back. He swallowed thickly as he moved to the next one the two sides of the shirt becoming farther and farther apart. He looked the length of her back as he completed the third button before she turned around.

"Thanks," she smiled curling her hair behind her ears.

Ezra nodded not even sure if he would be able to speak as he backed out of the room. He ran a hand roughly through his hair as he returned to his spot at the chairs. He mentally berated himself for getting carried away _again_ and knew he was going to seriously have to pull himself together. Otherwise it would be extremely awkward for him as well as Aria since they would be living together for some time.

Aria came out of the dressing room 5 minutes later and told Ezra that everything fit perfectly except for two pairs of jeans and a shirt.

"That will be 360 dollars," a short girl with bleach blonde hair behind the register said.

"Ezra," Aria eyes widened and she reached out to place her hand on Ezra's arm which was preparing to give the employee his credit card.

"I can afford it," he assured her. "And no matter what you say I'm going to buy it," he smiled. He handed the woman his card who swiped it and waited for the machine to print his receipt.

"Are you two a couple?" the girl asked as she teared the receipt from the machine.

Aria instantly shook her head a light blush tinting her cheeks. "No," she said.

Ezra laughed to himself at her reaction as he signed his name on the small white piece of paper.

Ezra handed the woman the receipt back who gave him a flirtatious smile.

"Would you ever be interested in getting together sometime?" She inquired flashing him another grin.

Ezra could see Aria tense beside him a hint of jealousy across her face? He shook his head. There was no way Aria would be jealous, was there?

Either way he really didn't feel like going out with the cashier woman, so he politely declined.

Ezra awkwardly grabbed the bags of clothes avoiding the stare the woman was giving him.

He swore he saw Aria's mouth curve up a fraction of an inch, but then again it could have been his imagination.

"So how does it feel being desired everywhere you go?" Aria teased as she looked up at Ezra.

"Well I imagine you must know what that feels like," Ezra pointed out. He saw Aria's face fall the slightest and realized what he said could have been taken the completely wrong way considering her last profession.

"I did not mean it like that," Ezra immediately said. "I just meant that you're really pretty and I'm sure a ton of guys would want to be with you."

Aria blushed and shook her head as if that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"It's true," Ezra said as he lightly bumped his shoulder with hers.

"Thank you," Aria laughed as she looked down at the floor.

The pair soon arrived back at Ezra's apartment still only mid-afternoon since they had left right after breakfast.

"Since its only 3:00 I really think we should go for that swim," Ezra suggested.

Aria bit her lip again an apprehensive expression all across her face. "I'm really nervous," she informed him.

Ezra laughed at her to which she rolled her eyes. "I promise I will not let you die," he grinned.

"Ok," she breathed. Ezra reached into the bag he was holding and tossed her the bathing suit they had bought while he went to his room for his. Ezra changed much quicker than Aria and was waiting on his couch when he heard her come into his living room. Aria was holding the clothes she was wearing against her stomach and Ezra saw the reluctance to let them go as she dropped them into one of the shopping bags. Era immediately understood why as he took in the sight of her abdomen which was covered in dark brown bruises.

"Aria," he whispered a she stood up and walked closer to her.

"What happened," he asked as he lightly traced one of them with his pointer finger.

"Some guys like it rough," she shrugged. Ezra felt like he was going to be sick at the thought of someone treating Aria like this. It brought him back to reality seeing these bruises though because he honestly forgot what her situation was a lot of the times they were together.

"Does it hurt," he wondered as he inspected the rest of them along her other rib.

"Not too much anymore, but a little," she admitted. "It's really nothing," she assured him.

Ezra nodded even though he was unconvinced. Some of them looked really bad, but at least a few were yellowing and looked like they were on the road to recovery.

"You ready to go," he asked attempting to lighten the mood somewhat.

Aria nodded and followed Ezra out of his apartment to the elevator and then to the pool.

Ezra held out is hand to Aria who anxiously took it as he led them to the shallow end of the pool. Even at four feet the water was already up to Aria's chest considering she was only 5'2". Ezra saw the fear in her eyes with the water being so high and gripped her hand a little tighter.

"I don't think I can do this," Aria confessed her grip on Ezra's hand becoming much harder.

Ezra laughed, "We're only at four feet," he said attempting to bring some sort of solace.

"Here," Ezra said as he detached is hand from hers and lightly placed one on her back and one on her stomach.

"If you fall I've got you."

Aria gave him a look that said she didn't trust him, but nevertheless brought her feet up. Aria moved her arms slightly and soon she felt Ezra's hands leaving her.

Aria instantly panicked as her head went slightly underwater even though she could touch. She sputtered water out of her mouth and Ezra immediately grabbed her hips pulling her closer to him. Aria reached out to Ezra attaching her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"You almost killed me!" Aria yelled.

"I did not almost kill you," Ezra chuckled.

Ezra looked down at Aria who was still breathing somewhat heavily and still tightly wrapped around him.

"Aria, you do realize you can touch here right?" Ezra grinned.

Aria flushed and detached herself from Ezra awkwardly backing away slightly. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Would you rather sit with just your feet in?" Ezra offered. Aria graciously nodded and lifted herself up onto the stone. Ezra put his arms out of the water and crossed them on the stone floor, leaving his body in.

"So no one ever taught you how to swim as a kid?" Ezra asked trying to make some sort of conversation.

Aria shook her head. "My parents were always at events or charity things or working, and my only other sibling is younger," she explained. "They were the kind of people who thought reputation and appearance were everything, so going to dinners and stuff was always more important than me or my brother."

"Is that why…" Ezra trailed off.

"Yeah," Aria nodded. "That's why they kicked me out. I ruined their precious image."

"I'm sorry," Ezra comforted as he lightly placed a hand on her knee. "So I'm guessing you don't talk to them anymore?"

"They told me I was a disgrace and they never wanted to see me ever again," Aria told him. Ezra saw Aria's eyes become distant as she looked down at the water of the pool.

"Hey," Ezra moved his thumb across her knee causing her to look at him. "I think you're amazing Aria, honestly."

"Ezra, I'm a prostitute," she shakily inhaled and ran her finger along the edge of the stone.

"Was," Ezra corrected her. "And speaking of which I made a couple of calls, and there's a few magazine internships that would really like to meet you."

"But I don't have any experience or anything," Aria reminded him.

"No, but you do have a love for reading and not to mention a recommendation from Ezra Fitz," he said. "I did write a book if you remember," he smiled.

Aria placed her hand on top Ezra's, "I really can't thank you enough for everything you've done."

"You don't have to," he shrugged.

A soft breeze blew by and Ezra realized how cold it was getting. The sun was a little lower than it had been and was no longer shining were they were.

"Are you ready to get out?" Ezra asked. Aria nodded as she crossed her arms trying to bring some warmth back to her body.

"What is it with me and forgetting towels," Ezra laughed referring to Aria's shower incident not too long ago.

Aria giggled before ringing the little bit of waiter in her hair into the pool.

"My neighbor gets extremely mad when I don't use a towel so we may have hide behind a wall or something if he walks by," Ezra informed her.

Aria laughed as Ezra took her hand and led her to the elevator. The doors opened and Ezra looked both ways before leading Aria out.

"My daughter thinks I spoil her son, but honestly isn't that what grandmothers are supposed to do?"

Ezra widened his eyes and mouthed "That's her" before tugging Aria down a different hallway.

Aria bit her cheeks to keep from laughing out loud while Ezra attempted to keep a straight face but was failing miserably. Once they were sure she had gotten in the elevator Ezra and Aria were able to walk to his apartment in peace.

"That was crazy," Aria laughed as Ezra put the key into his door.

"No she's crazy," Ezra smiled.

Ezra opened his door and let Aria in first, following soon after her.

"Who the hell is that?"

Ezra would know that voice anywhere as walked in and was met with his ex-girlfriend Jackie.

"Jackie, what are you doing here?" Ezra demanded.

"We broke up less than two days ago, and you're already with some slut?" She practically shrieked.

Ezra knew that hurt Aria a lot more than Jackie had intended for it and saw Aria's whole demeanor change.

"Jackie get out," Ezra said.

"I came for Wes's watch," Jackie explained.

Ezra sighed and ran a hand through his hair before going to his office to get the watch. He held it out for Jackie, who wordlessly grabbed it and gave Aria a glare before leaving the apartment.

"I'm so sorry she said that," Ezra apologized.

"It's fine," Aria shrugged. "It's not like a I haven't been called it before."

Ezra could see Aria thinking about something as she looked at spot on her nails.

"Is it ok if I take a quick shower?" she asked.

"Of course," Ezra nodded.

He had the feeling Aria was keeping something from him and felt like it had to do with why she got kicked out. He didn't really have a right to know, but he hoped in time she would tell him anyway.

**Hope you guys liked this! And you will find out why Aria got kicked out eventually.**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! You're all too kind and it makes me so happy to see you guys are liking the story! :)**

Ezra walked over to his kitchen as he heard Aria turn the water to the shower on. He rummaged through his cabinets until he found the box of spaghetti he was looking for. He may have been a horrible cook, but there was no way he could screw up pasta, right? Ezra shrugged and took out a shiny silver pot before filling it about ¾ of the way. It was about 5:00 right now, so he figured Aria would be out of the shower just in time for when she was probably hungry too.

Ezra turned the stove on and leaned his back against the counter as he waited for the water to boil. He lightly drummed his fingers along the grant countertop and soon he heard the familiar popping noises coming from the pan. He poured the pasta in just as his phone rang.

He strode over to his phone that was attached to the wall and picked it up.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Ezra, this is Anne Tate from Johnson Publishing Company," the woman on the other line explained.

"Ah yes I remember," Ezra replied.

"I was just calling because we just had an internship position open up and I know you mentioned that you know someone who might be interested. She basically has the job since you recommended her, but we were wondering if she could come for a just a routine interview tomorrow?" Anne said.

Ezra smiled as he heard the good news and turned around when he heard footsteps behind him. He grinned at Aria who gave him a look that asked if he was crazy.

"That actually sounds wonderful," Ezra enthused. "I'm sure she'll be psyched."

"That's great," Anne exclaimed. "Could to tell her that she should come around two o'clock?"

"Absolutely! And thank you again," Ezra stated.

"Anything for Ezra Fitz," she laughed. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Ok, bye Anne."

Ezra hung up the phone and turned to face Aria.

"What?" Aria laughed as Ezra continued to look at her with a goofy grin on his face.

"Nothing much," Ezra said nonchalantly as he walked closer to her. "I only just got you an interview at Johnson Publishing Company," he shrugged.

"Are you serious?" she breathed.

Ezra bit his lip and smiled and he slowly nodded his head.

Aria's face was gleaming as she quickly enveloped Ezra in a hug.

"Thank you so much!" She was almost yelling and Ezra could tell she was basically on the verge of tears.

He held Aria tighter and swayed them back and forth slightly as he inhaled the delicious scent coming from her wet hair. All too soon Aria pulled away, but the look Ezra got to see on her face made it worth it.

"You are so amazing Ezra," Aria smiled as she held Ezra's hands in hers.

Ezra grinned down at her and softly slid the pads of his thumbs across her silky smooth knuckles. Aria looked up at him through her thick black lashes, her teeth skimming across her lip.

Ezra so badly wanted his teeth to be grazing her like that and moved his head a fraction of an inch closer. He saw Aria swallow her expression becoming more serious. Ezra could practically feel his eyes darkening as he drank in every feature of her face. He ran his gaze across the smooth skin of her porcelain skin, her hazel eyes captivating him.

"Ezra," she whispered. Her eyes bored into him, his name spoken from her mouth causing chills to go through his body. Her expression looked almost pained, but Ezra saw the flash of want grace her face before that look was quickly replaced.

Aria stepped back from Ezra's heated stare and looked toward the kitchen.

"Do you smell something burning?" she asked, continuing to look around for the source.

Ezra had absolutely no idea what had just happened between them and ran a hand through his hair as he took an intake of breath. He definitely smelled the burning smell now, and soon realized he had completely forgotten about the pasta.

Ezra hit himself on the forehead before rushing over to the pot which had since overflowed as well. He grabbed some oven mitts from a drawer and poured the scalding water into the sink before dumping the mound of pasta into the garbage.

"You tried to cook?" Aria laughed taking in the scene before her.

Ezra chuckled along with her at the ridiculousness of the situation with her before nodding.

"I think we should order a pizza," Ezra suggested.

"That would probably be a good idea," Aria smiled.

Half an hour later the pizza had arrived and Ezra and Ari were sitting on Ezra's couch, plates in hand.

"What's your favorite color?" Ezra asked. He took a bite of his pizza as he awaited Aria's answer.

"What?" she gave him a confused look for such a random question.

"I want to get to know you better," Ezra shrugged.

"Well then probably purple," she said. Ezra nodded his head as if he were really taking that information to heart causing Aria to giggle.

"You look like a purple kind of person," he stated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aria laughed.

"It means if you were a color you would be the color purple," Ezra explained. Aria shook her head at Ezra's answer which didn't really answer anything only stated what he had said before in a different way.

"What's _your_ favorite color?" Aria asked.

Ezra tapped his chin before finally answering, "Blue."

"You look like a blue kind of person," Aria repeated Ezra's words a huge smile stretching across her face.

"Favorite food?" Ezra put his finished plate onto the coffee table next to them and grabbed his glass of water that resided there too.

"Tofu," Aria responded. Ezra gave her a disgusted look immediately putting his water down.

"I'm sorry but no one's favorite food can be _tofu_," he made a face as he said the last word.

"It's so good though," Aria argued. Ezra shook his head in fake disappointment as he tried to keep a straight face.

"Favorite memory?" Aria said.

"Probably when my parents took me and my brother to Coney Island for the first time. It was one of the few times my whole family got along," Ezra told her. He sighed as he thought about that day. He didn't think he would ever forgive Wes for what he did and it saddened him to think that their relationship was ruined forever.

"I didn't mean to make you upset," Aria said.

"It's fine," Ezra waved his hand, but Aria could clearly see it wasn't. The look of devastation on his face when he had remembered, almost broke Aria's heart. To see someone she knew was so strong, look like he did it was extremely unsettling.

Aria moved closer to Ezra and took one of his hands in both of hers. She gave him a comforting smile, before embracing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and while he rested his head on her shoulder.

"I still don't understand how he could have done that to me," Ezra mumbled. Aria lightly ran her fingers along his head, as she tried to comfort him further.

Ezra closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of Aria's fingers as they softly skimmed his scalp. Everywhere she touched him felt like it was on fire including the side of his cheek which was resting against the bare skin of her collar bone. She smelled like soap and freshness, the fruity scent of her shampoo filling his nose as well.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Aria's voice was barely above a whisper as she looked down at Ezra.

"Thank you," he smiled.

He and Aria stayed like for a little while a comfortable silence filling the air. Ezra felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as he struggled to keep them open. He finally succumbed to his body's protests letting sleep overtake him.

LB

Ezra opened his eyes and looked around confused to why he was on his couch. All the lights in his apartment were off but he could make out the plates and cups on his table from the city lights shining through his window. He then remembered falling asleep in Aria's arms and sat up to look around for her.

He saw her over by his window seat her head resting on the glass and her knees pulled up tightly against her.

"Hey," he smiled as he walked over to where she was. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Just thinking."

"Mind if I sit down?" Ezra gestured to the spot next to her.

Aria shook her head and moved over so Ezra would have more room.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ezra asked.

Aria looked down at her hands which were knotted together before looking back up at Ezra.

"Earlier today…" she trailed off. Ezra saw the struggle it was for her to get out what she was saying and his heart dropped as he realized what this might be about.

"You really don't want to get involved with me," she murmured. Ezra sighed as his fears were confirmed.

"You deserve someone so much better, Ezra," she whispered.

Ezra moved closer to Aria not taking his eyes of hers. He saw the hesitation and fear in them as the tip of his knee lightly hit hers.

His breathing became somewhat unsteady as the distance between their faces became less and less. He reached between them and curled a piece of her hair away from her face and lightly trailed his finger down the side of her cheek. He saw her shudder when he grazed her lips with his fingertips as they parted slightly.

Ezra brushed his nose against hers; theirs lips only mere milliliters away. He pressed his lips against hers for not even a second before pressing another on the side of her mouth.

Even though they had kissed and gone much farther before, this time it felt different. This time it felt new and exciting and scary.

Aria took in a shaky breath, Ezra's lips still lingering against her skin. Ezra felt hot droplets of water hit his though cheek causing him to instantly pull back.

"Aria," he breathed as he saw tears trickling down from her eyes. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly and she continued to cry into his shirt. Ezra ran his hand along the length of her back his head resting on top of hers.

Aria pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes a loud sob ripping through her chest.

"We can't," she whimpered.

"Why?" Ezra whispered.

"I come with so much baggage, Ezra. Some you don't even know about. I can let you be with me when you deserve someone so much better," she explained.

Ezra stared at her and sighed. He wanted her so badly.

"I can go if you want," she murmured.

"No," Ezra shook his head. "I can keep my feelings in check."

Aria gave him a weary expression not convinced that that would be the best decision for both of them.

"Don't go," Ezra pleaded. "Please." He took ahold of her small hand hoping it would somehow persuade her to stay.

"I know I just met you, but I already care about you so much, Aria. If you stay I promise everything will go back to the way it was."

Aria nodded, a few more tears escaping her eyes as she leaned into Ezra's side.

Ezra stood up a few minutes later and took Aria's hand leading her back over to the couch. He grabbed a blanket they had put on the floor and handed it to Aria.

"I'm gonna head to bed," he said pointing in the direction of his room. "Goodnight, Aria," he whispered as he put his hand on her shoulder. He went to pull his arm away but Aria grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"I care about you to, Ezra," she clarified. "Which is why I have to do this."

"I know," he nodded. Ezra squeezed her hand before stepping back. He smiled and retreated to his bedroom.

**Sorry this is kind of short, but I'm going to update again either tomorrow or Sunday!**

**Hope you guys liked this chapter, and I promise it will get a lot better for them!**

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I hardly got any reviews last time, so I don't know if you guys like where I'm going with this. Please please review this chapter! **

Ezra rubbed his eyes stifling a yawn as he sat up in his bed. He put his face in his hands and sighed. He had gotten almost no sleep last night, his thoughts plagued by Aria. He inhaled and swung his legs to the side of his bed, his knees cracking in the process. He walked to his bathroom and brushed his teeth before changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

He walked to his kitchen and looked into his living room and saw Aria still asleep on his couch. He strode over to the coffee table and grabbed the plates and cups that they had left there last night.

Ezra stole a glance at Aria, her peaceful form making his heart ache. Her lips were parted slightly and her dark brown curls framed her face. She sighed softly in her sleep before turning onto her back.

Ezra immediately backed away hoping she hadn't woken up. The last thing he needed was for her to wake up and catch him staring at her.

Aria hummed and turned back onto her side, the hem of her shirt riding up.

Ezra couldn't help himself as his eyes instantly went to her now exposed skin which was unfortunately still covered in bruises. He briefly wondered if he should make her see a doctor, afraid maybe internal damage had been done.

Ezra carefully picked up the blanket that had fallen to the floor and gently draped it over Aria. Her hands gripped it once Ezra let go as she buried her face into the pillow under her head.

Ezra retreated back to his kitchen and put the dishes he had grabbed into the sink. He leaned against his hands taking a deep breath.

He heard rustling behind him and turned to see Aria sitting up. She swept her hair to one side and stretched her arms before standing. She turned around surprised to find Ezra in his kitchen.

"Hey," Aria smiled. She curled a piece of her hair behind her ear and looked up at Ezra from under her dark black lashes.

"Hey," he said. Ezra put his hands into the pockets of his jeans leaning his back against the counter. "We both slept pretty late so we should probably leave in 45 minutes for your interview."

"Ok," Aria nodded. She walked back over to the couch and grabbed some of the clothes they had recently bought before going to the bathroom to get ready.

Ezra sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Usually he was able to converse with Aria so easily but now it felt different, almost foreign.

Aria came out about fifteen minutes later with her hair pulled into a high ponytail, and was wearing dark black skinny jeans, a cream colored sweater and a pair of black flats.

"Do you think this is okay to wear?" Aria asked, turning slightly so Ezra would be able to see all sides.

"Yeah," Ezra shook his head. "I don't think it's going to be super formal so I'm sure it's fine."

"Thanks," Aria said before putting the clothes she slept in into one of the bags she kept next to the couch.

Half an hour later Ezra and Aria walked to Ezra's car ready to drive to the publishing company.

Ezra saw Aria's knee bouncing slightly as he turned a corner. Her head was resting against the back of the seat turned towards the window.

"You nervous?" Ezra asked.

"A little," Aria shrugged.

Ezra turned back towards the road, frustrated that things were so awkward between them now. Even if they weren't going to be anything more, Ezra still really enjoyed her company as a friend.

Soon they arrived and Ezra could see the fear very evident in Aria's eyes. He gave her a comforting smile, before the pair walked into the building.

"Ezra!" Anne exclaimed as she rushed over to where Ezra and Aria were standing. "So nice to see you," She gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek before turning to Aria.

"And this must be Aria," she smiled.

"Hi," Aria said as she held out her hand to shake Anne's.

"Are you ready?" she asked, jutting her thumb out to a hallway behind her.

Aria nodded and gave Ezra a nervous smile before turning to follow Anne.

"I'll be waiting right over there," Ezra pointed to a reception area filled with chairs before Anne and Aria disappeared into another room.

Ezra leaned back in one of the chairs and leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes. He wanted this interview to go well for Aria, but in some ways the thought of her getting her life together made him upset. He didn't know if she would still want to stay in touch, but he could hope.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing as he took it out of his pocket.

Ezra looked at the name on the phone and picked it up. "Hardy?" Ezra asked.

"Hey man!" Ezra's best friend Hardy exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me about your new girlfriend?"

"What?" Ezra furrowed his brow and ran his finger along the arm of the chair.

"Jackie told me," Hardy explained.

"What did she tell you?" Ezra was pretty sure Hardy and Jackie were in contact or anything, or at least he hoped.

"Dude, she called me up this morning freaking out saying something about you already having moved on. She wanted to know if I knew anything about it and if I'd ever seen you with someone else," Hardy told him.

"What did you say after that?" Ezra asked.

"I told her to go to hell and then hung up," Hardy shrugged.

Ezra chuckled, knowing that was the exact kind of thing Hardy would do. "She's not my girlfriend," Ezra explained.

"Then who is she?"

Ezra was tempted to tell Hardy the truth so he could have someone to confide in, but he figured it wasn't really his place to tell. "I'm just letting a friend stay with me for a while."

"Is she hot?"

"Hardy!" Ezra laughed.

"Look all I'm saying is Jackie was pretty upset so I'm guessing she _is_ hot and if you're not hitting that, I might have to," Hardy said.

"Yes she is hot," Ezra sighed. "But I'm not letting you anywhere near her," he stressed.

"This is why girls didn't go out with you in college. You always take the fun out of everything," Hardy teased. Ezra shook his head and looked up when he heard voices. Anne and Aria were making their way back over to him.

"Goodbye Hardy," Ezra grinned.

"Don't be such a stranger," Hardy reminded him before hanging up.

"That was fast," Ezra pointed out as he stood to meet Aria and Anne.

"Like I said before it was just routine," Anne smiled. "Be here at 9," Anne said turning to Aria.

"Ok," Aria nodded, her smile practically taking up her whole face.

"I'm gonna go thank her again," Ezra told Aria as Anne began walking back to her office.

Aria said ok, as Ezra ran to catch up with Anne.

"Hey, thank you again, I know she really appreciates it," Ezra smiled.

"Of course," she waved her hand. "I'm sorry I couldn't give her a better job but she doesn't have much experience and she's so young. When you called I was under the impression she was around your age, at least 22."

Ezra cocked his head to the side. "How old is she?"

"She's 18," Anne said.

Ezra blinked. He thought Aria was at least in her twenties too, definitely not 18.

"Well, I guess she's practically nineteen, considering her birthday's in two days," Anne figured.

Of course, Aria would neglect to tell him it was her birthday. Even though they were in a bit of a rough patch, this new information really made him want to make these next few days really special.

"I should probably get back, but thank you again," Ezra said.

"My pleasure," Anne smiled.

Ezra walked back over to Aria who was looking at some paintings on the wall. Aria jumped slightly when Ezra placed his hand on her upper back alerting her of his presence.

"You ready to go?"

Aria hesitantly gave Ezra a hug to which Ezra returned.

"Thank you so much Ezra," she whispered.

Ezra squeezed her a little tighter in response, before pulling back. Ezra saw Aria's eyes were somewhat glassy, before she turned to walk to Ezra's car.

Ezra sat down in the driver's seat and ran another hand through his hair. He turned the ignition once Aria was buckled and pulled out of the companies' driveway.

He still couldn't believe she was only 18. She definitely had an old soul, but still.

"Are you ok?" Aria asked. She noticed he was in deep thought and gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than usual, his eyes trained on something on the road.

"You're eighteen," he said.

He saw Aria tense as she looked over at him.

"Are you mad or something?" she wondered from the distant expression he was giving before.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm shocked, I guess." He turned to look at her as they came to a stoplight. "You're so young."

"So," she shrugged.

"You're practically a kid and you've already gone through so much." Ezra turned back to the road as the light went green and he drove ahead.

"Age is just a number," she murmured. "In every other way, I'm an adult."

"Last year you could have been in high school," he mumbled.

"But I wasn't."

Ezra nodded and cleared his throat, turning another corner.

"I know this really nice restaurant we could go to for a late lunch/ early dinner," Ezra informed her. "In celebration of your new job," he smiled.

"Ok," Aria smiled back, glad that the atmosphere had gone back to a more comfortable one.

Fifteen minutes later they came up to the road the restaurant was on and luckily someone was just pulling out so Ezra was able to get a parking spot right away. He paid the parking meter before him and Aria walked in.

The restaurant they were in had opened up about a month ago and had a variety of all different types of food. Ezra could see the excitement in Aria's eyes as the waiter led them to a table and handed them each a menu.

Ezra ended up ordering a small pizza for himself and Aria got a sandwich and French fries.

"This is soo good," Aria smiled as she help up a French fry before putting it into her mouth.

Ezra laughed and took a bite of his pizza. He grabbed his napkin from his lap confused at Aria's expression when he looked back up.

Aria's eyes were staring at something at the front of the restaurant, a look of complete fear etched across her face.

Ezra looked to where she was, and saw a guy with blonde hair who looked to be about thirty.

"Do you know him?" Ezra asked. He saw Aria snap back to reality and look down at her food.

"No," she shook her head. "No." Ezra saw her sneak another glance back up at the man before turning back to her sandwich.

…

"I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick," Aria said after Ezra finished paying the bill.

"I'll wait outside," Ezra pointed to the front door.

Ezra walked outside and put his hands in his pockets as he looked around. He looked up as someone else came out of the restaurant and saw it was the man Aria was staring at earlier.

"I'll pay you double for her," the man said to Ezra.

"What?" Ezra asked confused as he cautiously took a step back.

"Whatever you're paying her, I'll give you double if you let me have her," he explained as if it was obvious what he was talking about.

Ezra realized what the man was saying, just as Aria stepped outside.

He saw Aria's whole demeanor change as she saw the man and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Remember me?" the man laughed as he stepped closer to Aria. "I couldn't believe my luck when I happened to see you here." Ezra instinctively stepped closer as well as he saw Aria's eyes widen the slightest.

"I'll pay you double whatever he's giving you," the man said pointing at Ezra.

"It's not like that," Ezra said.

Aria looked like she was going to be sick to her stomach, as the man got even closer to her.

"It's not like that," Ezra repeated louder this time.

The man grabbed Aria's arm jerking her forward. Ezra instantly attempted to get in front of the man and tried to pull him off Aria. The man dug his nails into Aria's arm causing her eyes to water. Ezra not knowing what else to do, punched the man in the face causing him to fall back and let go of Aria.

A small crowd was forming, as Ezra quickly ushered Aria back to his car. He quickly got out his keys and started the car. The ride back to his apartment was deathly silent neither of them knowing what to say.

Once Ezra had parked the car in the apartment's complex he turned to look at Aria.

Tears were streaming down her face which she quickly wiped away once she saw Ezra looking.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

"For what?" Ezra ran his knuckles down the top of her arm hoping to bring some comfort.

"You could have been seriously hurt," she whispered more tears trailing down her cheeks. "Because of me."

"You don't think I could have taken him?" Ezra placed his hand against his chest mocking hurt.

Aria giggled and rolled her eyes before sniffling and sighing.

"In case you forgot I did win," Ezra smiled. He swiped his thumb across Aria's cheek ridding it of the new tears that had fallen.

"Thank you for saving me," Aria murmured. She leaned across the console giving Ezra a hug.

"You're the best friend I've ever had," Aria mumbled into his shoulder.

"My friend Hardy would kill me if he knew, but I think you're the best friend I've ever had too," he smiled.

Ezra sighed in contentment. It finally felt like things were back to normal.

**Next chapter Aria meets the girls and another surprise character! I'm planning on updating this weekend if I get enough reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks so much for the reviews guys! This is definitely my favorite chapter so far, and you find out about Aria's past! I think lot of you are going to hate me half way through but then you'll love me again by the end haha! Also it get M near the end!**

"This one or this one?" Aria held up two different shirts in front of Ezra.

"They look exactly the same," Ezra laughed. He took a sip of the coffee he was drinking and leaned back in his chair.

"Ezra this is my first day, I want to look good," Aria explained. "This is a sky blue," she raised the shirt in her left hand, "And this is teal," she said holding up the other.

"Um teal?" he offered, shrugging his shoulders.

Aria stared down at the two garments in front of her, her face scrunching up in thought. "I'm gonna go with the blue," Aria decided, before turning to go change in the bathroom.

Ezra rolled his eyes and chuckled, getting up to put his cup in the sink. Today was Aria's first day of work and Ezra could tell she was freaking out considering she had shown him at least five other shirts before narrowing it down to those two.

Ezra walked over to his table by the door and grabbed his keys and wallet before stuffing it into his pockets. While Aria was at work Ezra was planning on buying her something for her birthday which she was still unaware that he knew of.

He heard the clicking of heels and turned around to see Aria struggling to get her right shoe on as she put the teal shirt away.

"Does this look okay?" Aria asked after getting her shoe on. She stood up straight and smoothed down her skirt.

Aria was wearing a light blue blouse paired with a black pencil skirt and black heels.

Ezra found his eyes following the length of her legs as he nodded in response to her question.

"Good," Aria sighed. "I'm really nervous," she confessed.

"I can _definitely_ tell," Ezra laughed.

"Not helping," she gave him a pointed look before sitting down and fixing the strap on her shoe.

"You will do fine," Ezra assured her as he went to sit on the couch next to her. "You wouldn't have been hired if Anne didn't think you were up to it."

Aria shrugged and looked down at her hands before curling a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Do you want money to buy lunch?" Ezra asked as he fished out his wallet.

"It's sounds like I'm your child," Aria chuckled. "But no."

Ezra gave her a look as he pulled out ten dollars.

"You know I hate when you give me money," Aria reminded him.

"And you know that I don't care what you say," Ezra said. "Take this please," he smiled.

Aria bit her lip still making no move to take the bills from him.

"Once you start getting paid you can buy it on your own, but I'm not letting you go your first day with no lunch," Ezra told her. He stuffed the money into her palm and stood up so she couldn't try to give it back.

Aria shook her head and smiled. "Thank you," she said lifting the money slightly.

Ezra smiled and held out his hand for her to grab. She took hold of it and stood up from the couch. Ezra placed his hand on her lower back as he led them out of his apartment.

…

Aria bit her lip and ran a nervous hand through her hair as Ezra pulled up to the front of the publishing company. Ezra stopped the car in front of the steps and looked over at Aria.

Ezra took ahold of Aria's hand and smoothed out her fingers as they were digging into her palm. "You're gonna do great," Ezra smiled lightly patting her hand.

"Thank you again for everything," Aria murmured. "This job means a lot to me." She said giving Ezra's hand a squeeze. She took a deep breath before unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door.

"Good luck," Ezra called out the door as Aria stepped out of the car. Aria gave him a faint smile and a small wave before turning around. Ezra watched her lightly jog up the stairs her hair bouncing with each step.

Ezra turned back to the road and pressed down on the pedal, driving away. He didn't really have any idea what he was going to get Aria for her birthday, but he hoped by going to the mall, the perfect gift would just jump out at him.

He ended up just walking around aimlessly through the mall until something finally caught his eye. He walked closer to the store window examining the object more closely.

"It's perfect," he mumbled to himself a smile spreading across his face. He quickly walked into the store and picked her gift out before paying for it.

Aria's day ended at 4, so Ezra still had hours to kill. He decided to walk around some more and ended up going to a bookstore to read for a while. Now that his second book was already published he had a ton of free time and he really wasn't sure what he was going to do with it.

Finally it reached 3:00, so Ezra decided to head back to the publishing company. It took about half an hour to get there, and Ezra figured he would just play angry birds or something on his phone for the remaining time.

Soon, Ezra saw a petite body leaving the doors of the building accompanied by someone a little bit taller than her with light blonde hair.

Aria waved to him as her and the other girl reached his car.

Ezra stepped out of the car and stood from his side and looked over the roof. "Hey, who's this?" Ezra smiled referring to the other girl.

"This is Hannah," Aria answered gesturing to the blonde next to her. "She's interning here too."

"Hi," Hannah waved. "I was just telling Aria, how nice it is to finally have someone I can relate to at work."

"That's great," Ezra grinned. "I'm Ezra." He was genuinely happy Aria seemed to be adjusting well and had even made a new friend. "We were actually going to head out for dinner would you like to join us?" Ezra asked. He looked to Aria making sure it was ok, to which she nodded.

"I would love to," Hannah stressed. "But I actually promised by two friends Spencer and Emily I'd have dinner with them tonight."

"They're more than welcome to join us," Ezra offered.

"Ok," Hannah nodded. "I think they'll really like you," Hannah told Aria.

Aria smiled and mouthed a "thank you" to Ezra as Hannah pulled out her phone.

"I'll text them quick, and then you guys can follow me to the restaurant?" Hannah suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ezra said. Hannah smiled, before walking over to where her car was parked.

"Did everything go ok at work today?" Ezra asked, as him and Aria took their seats.

"Yeah," Aria smiled. She immediately looked down at her hands before staring out the window.

"Aria," Ezra looked over at her for an instant before returning his attention back in front of him.

"No," she sighed. "I spilled two cups of coffee, stapled my finger, and lost the lunch money you gave me."

"Hey it's only your first day," Ezra reminded her. "On the bright side, Hannah seemed really nice."

"Yeah," Aria agreed. Ezra could see a smile spread across her face with his peripheral vision.

A little while later, Hannah finally stopped in front of a restaurant. She was able to find a parking spot right up front, but Aria and Ezra had to go a little ways down the road to get one. Once they made it back to the restaurant, Ezra saw that two other girls who he assumed to be Spencer and Emily had arrived.

"Spence, Em, this is Aria and Ezra," Hannah explained pointing to each of them.

Ezra and Aria shook hands with Spence and Emily exchanging hello's.

…

"So you work at Johnson's with Hannah?" Spencer asked, before taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah," Aria nodded. "Today was my first day."

"Yeah, it was her first day and she already has half the guys drooling over her," Hannah laughed.

Ezra's ears perked up at this as he looked over to Aria. She shook her head a light blush spreading across her cheeks.

"It's true," Hannah exclaimed. "Apparently Noel told Sean who told me that he thinks you're really cute and wants to take you out," Hannah informed everyone.

Ezra swallowed and looked down at his food. Hearing about this Noel person ignited strong jealously in Ezra even though Aria wasn't even his to be jealous over.

"Go Aria," Emily chuckled lightly bumping her shoulder with Aria's.

Ezra gripped his fork a little harder, before filling his mouth full of salad.

"So Ezra, you actually look really familiar, have we met before?" Spencer wondered.

"You probably saw him on the back of a book cover, he's written two books," Aria smiled. She lightly brushed her fingers on Ezra's arm who was sitting on her other side.

"Right!" Spencer said. "Ezra Fitz?"

Ezra smiled and nodded his attention still focused on Aria's fingers which still hadn't left his arm. A couple of seconds later though, Aria took back her hand to grab her drink. Ezra sighed immediately missing her touch.

"So, Aria didn't tell us much about you, but are you two dating?" Hannah asked. Her somewhat forward question got a few looks from Spencer and Emily, but being the person she was Hannah ignored them.

"No," Aria shook her head. "Were just friends." Aria looked over to Ezra and gave him a small smile, to which he begrudgingly returned.

"Well, opens you right up for Noel," Hannah laughed. Aria laughed along with her as Ezra felt his whole body tense.

The group soon finished their meals, splitting the tab between them all. They each said there "goodbye's" and "nice to meet you's" before heading to their respective cars.

"So, who's Noel?" Ezra asked once him and Aria were in his car.

"Just this guy I met at work," Aria replied.

Ezra nodded, his hold on the steering wheel, becoming a little tighter. Aria didn't seem to notice and continued to look out the window.

…

Ezra woke up the next morning and walked into his kitchen expecting to find Aria on the couch like she always was. A piece of paper caught his attention on his dinner table so he went to go see what it was.

_Hey Ezra! I forgot to tell you last night; Hannah and me were going to carpool this morning to work. We left a little early to get breakfast, but I'll see you when I get home_

_Aria_

Ezra sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew it was silly, but in a way it felt like he was being replaced. He shook his head. He should be happy Aria was making new friends.

Since it was Aria's birthday today he had planned on taking her out for breakfast as well, but hopefully the place they were going for dinner would make up for it.

Ezra spent his day lounging around and watching TV. At about 2:00 he went to the local supermarket and picked up a birthday cake for Aria, knowing it would be an absolute disaster if he tried to make one.

He later decided to pull out his laptop, not having written anything in a long time. In the beginning he had a hard time coming up with anything, but thinking about Aria sparked something in him and soon the words were just flowing out of him.

He heard a knock on his door a little while later and realized it had to be Aria since she didn't have a key.

"Hey," Ezra smiled as he opened the door.

"Hey," Aria said. Ezra held the door open allowing her to walk in before shutting it.

"How was work?" Ezra asked as he went to shut the top to his computer.

"Much, much better than yesterday," Aria laughed as she took her coat off.

"Well, since it's someone's birthday today, I know a really nice restaurant we can go eat at," Ezra told her.

"Oh," Aria looked really uncomfortable as she stared down at her fingers. "Noel actually invited me to go out tonight," she explained. "I had no idea you were going to do this."

Ezra swallowed, feeling the blood boil in his body at the mention of _his_ name. That feeling was soon replaced with sadness as he realized what was happening. "It's totally fine," Ezra waved his hand. "You should hang out with other people."

"Ezra, I'm really sorry," Aria apologized. "If I had known."

Ezra shook his head and said it was no big deal.

Aria nodded, before pointing her thumb down the hall and saying she was going to go get ready.

Ezra slumped onto his couch closing his eyes. He had been looking so forward to tonight and had everything planned out. The fact that Aria may have another man in her life made Ezra mad as well as worried. A part of him knew eventually she would have to move out of his apartment, but he didn't want to believe it.

Ezra stood up and walked over to his kitchen pulling out a notepad. He scribbled a quick message on it saying he was going to take a quick drive. Ezra got Aria's present from his room and placed it on top of the note, because he wasn't sure it he would be back before she left.

Ezra aimlessly drove around the streets of New York City, needing to clear his head. He wanted Aria so badly sometimes it hurt. For some reason she felt like she didn't deserve him, which killed him because in some ways he felt like he didn't deserve her. She really was a selfless person. Ezra didn't know if it was a natural trait or had spawned from everything she had been through, but either way Ezra greatly admired her.

They had known each other for less than a week and he was already falling so hard for her. He knew it was crazy, but there was no mistaking this feeling.

Ezra drove around for a little while before finally making it back to his apartment. Once he got inside he saw that Aria had already left. He walked over to his note and saw that she had taken his present as well.

Ezra walked over to his couch, deciding a quiet movie night in would do him good. It would give him time to think and decide what he was going to do about Aria, if anything.

Ezra had ended up drifting off, but woke up when he heard a knock at his door. He mentally reprimanded himself for forgetting to give Aria a key again as he went to open it.

Ezra had turned off all the lights in his apartment, so it was kind of dark, but the way Aria's head was down and her hands knotted told him something was wrong.

"Hey, you ok?" Ezra asked.

Aria's head immediately snapped up and she nodded. "Yeah," she smiled. Ezra could tell the smile was forced and her voice sounded the littlest bit sore.

Ezra lifted Aria's chin up further and saw her eyes were somewhat swollen. "Then why does it look like you've been crying?"

Aria curled a piece of hair behind her ear and swallowed.

"Aria," Ezra encouraged her to tell him what had happened.

"He didn't show up," she murmured.

"What do you mean he didn't show up?" Ezra said. Hearing this made him want to rip Noel's head off and if he ever saw him he just might.

"I've been walking around your block for the past three hours," she mumbled.

It broke Ezra's heart to see her like this and pulled her into his chest. Even if he wasn't too happy about their date he knew Aria was excited.

"It was stupid of me to think anything would happen," Aria said into Ezra's chest.

"Maybe something came up," Ezra offered as he ran his hand up and down the length of her back.

Aria shook her head. "Hannah gave me her phone for tonight because she knows I don't have one and Noel knew that too. He would have called."

Ezra heard Aria sniffle and bury her face further into his shirt as he squeezed her tighter. He rested his head on top of hers before placing a few light kisses to the top of her head.

Ezra reached between them and lifted Aria's chin up. He curled a piece of her hair behind her hair, before wiping away her tears with his thumb. Aria leaned into his palm closing her eyes. Ezra swallowed and took his other hand cradling her head and gently kissed her forehead. He figured it was now or never as his lips made their way down the bridge of her nose before finally landing on her lips. Aria kissed him back for a fraction of a second but then pulled back.

She took a step away from Ezra pulling herself out of his grasp entirely.

"Ezra, we can't" she whispered.

"Aria why?" Ezra murmured as he took a step closer to her.

"Because." Aria looked down at her hands refusing to meet Ezra's eyes.

Ezra sighed running a frustrating hand through his hair. "Aria I don't understand what you're doing. You'll go out with Noel, but not me?"

"Noel's different," Aria said.

"No, Noel's not different," Ezra argued. "For some reason you have this self-hatred and won't let yourself be happy."

A tear fell down Aria's cheek and Ezra tried to brush it away but she turned her head. Ezra put his hand back by his side and looked down.

"I think I should go," Aria whispered.

"Aria no," Ezra tried to stop her, but she was already out the door. Ezra walked over to his couch, putting his hands in his head. He gripped his hair before standing up. He grabbed a book sitting on his coffee table hurling it across the room. He had just let someone he cared about so much leave.

The soft beat of rain drops against his window began and Ezra sighed. He couldn't let Aria be out there in the rain especially when she had nowhere to go.

Ezra grabbed his car keys and locked his apartment before heading to his car. He drove around his street figuring she couldn't have gotten that far in the amount of time that she had had.

His windshield wipers moved across the window in front of him as a small brow haired girl came into view. Ezra could see she was soaked as she looked up at his car. Her eyes met his and stared into them as Ezra stopped a few feet in front of her. Ezra leaned across the console opening the passenger door for her. Aria stood there for a moment in thought before running ahead and slipping inside. She closed her door and looked over at Ezra as he began driving. He could feel her gaze on him and found an empty space before pulling into it.

He looked down at his lap before allowing his eyes to meet Aria's. She sprung towards him, her lips immediately finding his. Her hands went to his hair as Ezra's cradled her face. Their tongues fought for dominance and their labored breathing heated up the car. Ezra placed a softer kiss on her lips before moving to the side of her mouth and her cheek. Aria leaned into Ezra's lips her hands finding his.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Ezra pulled back from their embrace and gave her a faint smile. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before moving the wet hair from her face.

"Let's go home," he murmured. He turned to put his keys in the ignition and soon felt Aria leaning on his arm. He smiled down at her before pulling out of the space. She was making him wet as well but he didn't care as he drove back to the apartment.

The pair walked hand in hand from the car up to the elevator to Ezra's door. No words were exchanged as each of them reveled in the feel of the other one pressed against them.

Ezra opened his door and flicked on a light creating a nice glow. The sound of the rain made his apartment seem cozier than ever. Ezra turned to Aria who was staring back at him. She had an emotion in her eyes Ezra didn't really recognize as she took a step closer. She placed her hands on his abdomen before placing a kiss in the middle of his chest. Ezra leaned down and picked up her chin pressing a kiss to her lips.

Aria wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her height. Ezra opened his eyes and saw the want and lust in hers. She dragged her hand down his chest stopping at the top of his jeans.

"You sure?" he whispered. Aria nodded as she took ahold of Ezra's hand and kissed his knuckles.

Ezra gave her a small smile before taking her hand and leading her to his bedroom. He shut the door even though there was no one else here, but it felt more private. Aria sat atop his bed and took of her heels as Ezra threw off his shirt.

He walked in between Aria's legs and lifted her up by her hips and moved her to the center of the bed. He crawled up in front of her and hovered above her. A clinking noise caught his attention as he diverted his eyes to her wrist. She was wearing the bracelet he had gotten her for her birthday. It was a charm bracelet and already had a small book, a jukebox, and the top of a bathing suit charms.

"I love this," Aria murmured as she traced her fingers along the small piece of metal.

Ezra smiled and leaned his forehead against hers before kissing her lips.

"Turn around," he whispered in her ear. Aria complied, so she was on her stomach. Ezra straddled the back of her thighs before dragging the zipper of her dress down.

"Noel really missed out," Ezra said. "You looked beautiful tonight."

He could hear Aria laugh lightly into the pillows as he dragged her dress off of her body. He let it fall to the floor before getting back onto the bed.

Aria turned around, her breasts now exposed since she wasn't wearing a bra. Ezra lightly kissed the tops of each of the creamy mounds, his hands trailing along her side. Aria softly moaned as Ezra took one of her nipples into her mouth, biting down slightly. His other hand made its way to her other breast and massaged it, before switching sides.

Aria ran her fingers through Ezra's hair as he continued his ministrations. Aria pulled his head back to her lips kissing him hard. Ezra settled himself in between her legs careful to not lean on her too hard.

Aria brought her legs up and pushed down Ezra's sweatpants with her feet. Ezra kicked them the rest of the way off leaving his boxers on. He pressed his member into her panty-clad core causing Aria to sigh in contentment. He hooked his fingers into the sides of her underwear before dragging them down her legs. He pressed a kiss to the insides of each of her thighs before dropping her panties to the floor.

Aria sat up and brought her hands to Ezra's boxers and pulled them off. His erection sprang free and Ezra could see the carnal lust reflected in her face.

He moved so he was between her legs again both of them completely naked now. He locked hands with Aria above her head and stared into her eyes. He reached to his bedside drawer and pulled out a condom. He ripped open the package and rolled it on before he pushed himself into her. Aria mewled in pleasure as he began to move within her.

Ezra brought his face to her neck softly biting the skin as he sped up his thrusts. All of the sexual tension that had been between them these past couple of days allowed them to come quick and hard as they shattered around one another.

Aria's hair was still wet from the rain but now a line of sweat covered her forehead as did Ezra's. He slowly pulled out of her and discarded the condom in his trash across the room before getting back into the bed. He lifted the covers so Aria could get under them as well as he pulled her close to him.

"I have to tell you something," Aria murmured. Ezra looked down at her and nodded and turned so he was facing her.

Aria took in a shaky breath and ran her finger along a hole in the comforter.

"What you said earlier about me not letting myself be happy is true," she mumbled.

Ezra grasped her hands in his moving his thumb across her knuckles.

"When I was sixteen my parents kicked me out of the house because I got pregnant," she whispered.

Ezra swallowed not expecting that. "So you have a child?"

Aria shook her head. "I lost the baby." A tear fell down her cheek which Ezra immediately wiped away.

"I was staying at a friend's house and I knew something wasn't right. They took me to the hospital and the doctors said it was completely random and there wasn't really an explanation." Aria explained. "I've never forgiven myself for that."

Aria swallowed as more tears threatened to come.

"You know it's not your fault though right?" Ezra said. He lifted her chin so her eyes would meet his, his other hand still holding hers.

"Do I?" she whimpered. "Maybe if I had done something different."

"Aria," Ezra cooed. "There was nothing you could have done. Sometimes things just happen." Ezra pulled Aria into his chest kissing all along her hairline. He finally understood why she refused to do anything good for herself. She had felt like she didn't deserve it.

"This isn't going to be fixed tonight, but I promise I will always be there for you if you need to talk," Ezra murmured into her hair.

"I've never told anyone that," she said. Ezra hugged her tighter his hand tracing patterns along her lower back.

They stayed like that for while the sound of the rain creating a calming atmosphere. Soon Ezra heard Aria's breathing even out and he looked down to find her asleep. He was glad today was a Friday so she would be able to sleep late. He kissed her forehead and brushed a piece of hair from her face before letting sleep succumb him too.

**Hope you guys liked this! Please tell what you thought and I'm curious to see if any of you guessed right to why she got kicked out! I'll try to update soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much for the reviews guys! They were super sweet! I'm glad a lot of you were surprised about Aria!**

**Also, I realized I forgot to answer this before but for those of you wondering Ezra is about 25 in this story.**

**Hope you guys like it!**

Ezra breathed in deeply as he woke up, and felt a small body snuggling closer to him. He peered down at Aria, remembering the events that had taken place last night a smile spreading across his face. Aria buried her face deeper into Ezra's chest as she pressed the rest of her body closer to his.

Ezra pulled the covers farther up them, figuring she was cold and wrapped his arms around her. He watched the city out of the window across from him pressing a light kiss to the top of Aria's head once in a while. The honking of horns was surprisingly soothing as it rang through his apartment coupled with Aria's soft breathing.

A little while later Aria gently stirred beneath Ezra before leaning back from his embrace and looking up at him.

"Hi," Ezra whispered as he brushed his fingers along her cheek.

"Hi," Aria smiled. Ezra smiled back and tipped her chin up pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

"Do you have any idea how happy I am?" Ezra chuckled as he grazed his fingers down the length of her arm.

Aria blushed and bit her lip staring up at Ezra from under her dark black lashes.

"I'm really glad you thought you could tell me what you did last night," Ezra murmured.

"I trust you," Aria explained. She looked down at Ezra's hand before distractedly playing with his fingers.

Ezra pecked her forehead before pulling back the two of them just continuing to lay there. A comfortable silence soon enveloped them, but it was broken as Aria's stomach growling filled the room.

Ezra realized with everything that had happened yesterday both of them had forgotten to eat as he sat up.

"You're hungry," Ezra stated. "We could have your birthday cake you never got to have," he offered.

"You got me a birthday cake?" A grin spread across Aria's face and Ezra could see her eyes light up.

"Of course!" Ezra looked at her as if there wasn't even a question in his mind about it.

"Nobody's ever gotten me a cake before," Aria mumbled. "My parents didn't really think it was important."

"Well I can't make any promises that it will be good, because it _is_ store bought," Ezra pointed out.

Aria smiled at him and sat up too, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pressed her lips against Ezra's lips kissing him hard. She pushed her tongue inside Ezra's mouth and pulled at the baby hairs at the nape of his neck. Aria pressed her chest into Ezra's, causing Ezra to groan since neither of them had gotten dressed after last night.

Ezra pulled back before things got to heated and said, "We still have to eat remember?"

"Right," Aria laughed as she detached herself from Ezra.

"You are going to have to put some clothes on or I know I won't be able to control myself," Ezra smiled. Aria blushed and smiled back as Ezra stepped out of the bed. Ezra could feel Aria' eyes on him as he walked to wear he had left his jeans last night. He quickly slipped them on before grabbing his shirt and tossing it to Aria.

Aria put on Ezra's shirt and pulled it down to her thighs as she slid out the bed and grabbed her panties. She put those on as well before grabbing Ezra's outstretched hand as they walked to his kitchen.

Aria leaned against Ezra's counter as she watched him search through his fridge, finally pulling out the boxed dessert. Ezra placed it next to her and lifted the top revealing the cake.

It was vanilla cake with snow white icing and the words _Happy 19__th__ Birthday Aria _scrawled across the top in purple. There were four balloons in the corner each of them a different color.

"Would you like your name?" Ezra asked as he took out a fork and dug the word _Aria_ out of the cake.

"Sure," Aria laughed. Ezra brought the fork closer to her mouth as she opened it and ate it.

"This is good," Aria said as she chewed the frosted piece.

Ezra smiled and handed her the fork as he grabbed his own. They each dug into the cake not bothering to use plates. After collectively eating almost half of the cake, Ezra put there forks into his dishwasher and the cake back into the fridge.

"So what do you want to do now?" Ezra asked once he had finished cleaning up.

Aria shrugged and said she didn't really care.

"Well, I have a couple of ideas," Ezra gave her a smile before putting his arms on either side of her against his counter.

Aria bit her lip before placing her hands on Ezra's chest and pecking his lips. Ezra sighed as her lips touched his as he trailed his hands down her sides to the back of her thighs. He lightly squeezed them before lifting Aria so she was sitting on his counter. Aria wrapped her legs around Ezra's torso effectively pulling his closer to her.

"Are we going to be one of those couples that finally gets together and then has sex all the time?" Aria laughed as Ezra nipped at her neck.

"Are you complaining?" Ezra voice vibrated against her throat as his hand worked its way up her thighs before gripping her hips.

"No," Aria replied. She ran her fingers through Ezra's hair moaning when he began to feel her up.

"Then yes probably," Ezra chuckled. He moved his lips up to her cheek, slowly making his way to her ear. His hot breath tickled Aria causing goose bumps to pop up along her skin.

A knock sounded throughout the apartment breaking the tension that was building between the two of them.

"Expecting someone?" Aria asked breathlessly.

Ezra shook his head and removed himself from Aria. He walked to his door and opened it to find Hannah standing there.

"Hi, Ezra…" Hannah awkwardly looked anywhere but Ezra's eyes as he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt and probably had really bad sex hair from the night before.

"Is Aria here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ezra answered as he stood aside to let her in. Hannah looked over at Aria who was still sitting on the counter and dropped her mouth open.

"Oh my god, were you two gonna sleep together?" she squealed. Aria looked at her in horror, her face turning dark red.

"You were!" she exclaimed. "I knew you two were going to get together at some point," she explained. "You should have seen the way this guy had been looking at you all dinner a couple of days ago," Hannah pointed at Ezra earning a soft giggle from Aria.

Ezra shrugged before shooting Aria a smile.

"I was actually coming over to see how your date with Noel went, but obviously you've moved on from him," Hannah winked at Aria.

Aria couldn't help but smile at Hannah's comment even though she was still bitter over the whole Noel things. She saw Ezra's jaw tense the slightest as she hopped down off the counter.

"He actually didn't show up," Aria explained as she pulled Ezra's shirt down farther. "I do have your phone though," she said as she walked over to where she had put it last night.

"Woah," Hannah held up her hand. "What do you mean he didn't show up?" she demanded.

"I waited and he never came," Aria shrugged. She grabbed Hannah's phone from the table it was on before handing it to her.

"And he didn't call?" Hannah took her phone and furiously scrolled through her messages.

"No," Aria shook her head.

"I swear I will kill him on Monday," Hannah grumbled. "I'm gonna call him right now," Hannah said as began looking through her contacts.

"What?" Aria exclaimed as she looked worriedly over at Ezra.

"Hi Noel?" Hannah asked. "Yeah where they hell were you last night?"

Ezra went to stand by Aria and lightly placed his hand on the middle of her back as she continued to stare at Hannah.

"Noel you're really an ass," Hannah snapped. She made a face before hanging up her phone.

"It's a good thing you didn't go out with him, I didn't realize how much of a jerk he was," Hannah said.

"What did he say," Aria asked.

"He changed his mind and forgot to call," Hannah shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Oh," Aria murmured. She bit her lip an awkward silence filling the room.

"Aria he's a loser, anyone would be happy to go out with you," Hannah assured her.

Aria gave her a thankful smile and curled her hair behind her ear.

"I'm serious," Hannah promised. "If I were gay I would totally date you," Hannah said.

Aria's face broke into a smile. If Hannah was good at anything it was knowing how to lighten a mood.

"Thank you," Aria laughed. Hannah smiled and pulled Aria in for a quick hug. "I'll let you two get back to what you were doing," she grinned.

Ezra walked Hannah to the door and opened it for her. Hannah gave them each a wave before disappearing down the hall.

"You ok," Ezra asked once he had closed the door.

"Yeah," Aria nodded. "If it wasn't for Noel, I'm not sure we would have ever happened," she admitted.

"Well I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad Noel stood you up." Ezra strode over to Aria and cradled her face lightly kissing her lips.

"Now where were we?" he mumbled against her lips.

"I think your hand was here," she murmured as she took his palm and spread it over her breast. "And I think my hand was here." She gripped his neck pulling his lips harder against hers.

She felt Ezra smile against her mouth as he brought his other hand to her thigh. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around Ezra.

Ezra walked them over to his couch and sat down. Aria straddled Ezra and dragged her hand down his chest.

"You are so perfect Aria," Ezra whispered.

"Are you just saying that because I'm half naked," Aria laughed as she leaned her forehead against Ezra's.

"No, but it's certainly not making me think you are any less perfect," Ezra smiled. Aria ran her thumb across Ezra's cheek before kissing the tip of his nose.

"Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am that I found you," Aria mumbled.

Ezra ran his thumb across Aria's thigh as he stared into her hazel eyes.

"You really saved me Ezra," Aria confessed.

Ezra took Aria's hand and lightly kissed her fingers. "You saved me too," he murmured. "If I hadn't met you there's a chance I might have forgiven Jackie," Ezra said.

Aria smiled before kissing Ezra. Ezra enclosed Aria in his arms as their tongues mingled with one another.

Ezra moaned as Aria began grinding down on him her fingers tightening in his hair. Aria reached between them unbuttoning Ezra's jeans. She slowly dragged the zipper of his fly down before sitting up so Ezra could push them off. Aria reached behind her so she could bring his jeans to his knees allowing him to kick them off the rest of the way.

Ezra ran his fingers along the hem of Aria's panties before slipping his hand inside. Aria inhaled sharply before sighing in pleasure.

Ezra attempted to get Aria's panties off, but due to the position they were in he was finding it hard to do. Getting somewhat frustrated he tugged at the fabric and ended up ripping it.

"I'll buy you a new pair," he whispered before balling up the cloth and throwing it to the floor.

Ezra moved him and Aria to the side of his couch and fumbled around in his end table for a condom. He finally found one and pulled it out.

"Do you have these stashed everywhere around here?" Aria laughed.

"You never know when you might need one," Ezra explained.

Aria giggled and centered herself to him. She rolled the condom onto his length as she rejoiced in the feeling of him inside her.

Ezra groaned loudly gripping Aria's hair. Their breathing soon became labored, the sound of their hard pants filling the apartment.

Aria pressed harder against Ezra's lips as she breathed out and exploded around Ezra. Ezra came seconds later before collapsing against Aria. She moved off of him watching Ezra as he went to discard the condom. He returned to the couch after pulling his pants back on.

"Sex with you is so," Ezra trailed off.

"I know what you mean," Aria breathed. "Believe me I've had sex with a lot of people and it's never been like this," Aria said.

She could see Ezra change when she said she'd had sex with a lot of people and worried he was mad.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up," she murmured. "I wasn't thinking." She said as she shook her head.

"No," Ezra assured her. "I don't care. I just hate the idea of you being with anyone else but me," he explained. "I think you got put into a sucky situation and I would never blame you for that.

"I just want you all to myself," Ezra smiled. He pulled Aria close to him and nuzzled her neck before laying them down. Ezra was on the inside of the couch and Aria was snuggled up into him.

"You really are the best Ezra," Aria said as she laid her hand on top of Ezra's which was placed on her stomach.

"I know," he replied against the back of her head.

Aria squeezed Ezra's hand, cuddling herself further into him.

They laid like that for a while just relaxing in the other's presence.

A shrill ringing echoed of the walls bringing the pair back to reality. Ezra sighed and reached across Aria for his cellphone he had left on the coffee table.

"Hello?" he said.

"What?...When" Ezra ran a hand through his hair before placing it back on Aria's side. "Yeah I guess so." He sighed.

Ezra sat up a little so he could see the time over Aria as he said "Ok see you then."

Ezra hung up his phone before tossing it back onto the table in front of them.

"Who was that?" Aria asked as she turned to face Ezra.

"My mother," Ezra exhaled as he brushed a lock of hair away from Aria's face. "She's coming here in an hour."

"What?" Aria face was etched with worry as she sat up. "Should I go?" she asked.

"No of course not," Ezra replied giving her a look. "I want her to meet you," he explained.

"Does she know about…" Aria murmured.

"No," Ezra shook his head. "And as far as I'm concerned she doesn't need to. All she needs to know is that you're my girlfriend and you're living with me," he said.

"Girlfriend?" Aria smiled.

Ezra nodded and pecked her on the lips. "If you want to."

"Ok," Aria grinned. Ezra sat up as well and pulled her into his lap before kissing her cheek. Aria leaned into him placing her hand on his chest.

"I should probably go get changed though," Aria said. "I'm sure your mother wouldn't appreciate meeting me like this," she laughed referring to the fact she was wearing _just_ Ezra's shirt and nothing else.

"That's a good idea," Ezra smiled. Aria climbed off his lap and began searching through her shopping bags that were on either side of the couch.

"You know if you want you can move into my room with me," Ezra offered. "I have more than enough closet space considering I own about 5 shirts," he chuckled.

"I don't want to invade your space," Aria reasoned, looking up from the bag she had been digging through.

Ezra shook his head, "You won't be." He grabbed some of the bags bringing them to his room. "We don't have to do this all now, but after my mom leaves we can put all these clothes into drawers or hang them up."

"Thank you," Aria smiled. She walked over to Ezra pecking him lightly before giving him a hug.

Ezra hugged her back and kissed the top of her head before letting her go. He went to his closet to find another shirt while Aria changed into a dress she had picked out.

"Is this respectable enough?" Aria asked. She turned so Ezra could see all sides of her dark blue dress. It was a loose dress that fell about mid thigh with two large straps holding it up.

"Yes," Ezra nodded. "Even if it wasn't though I know my mother will love you. It's impossible not to," he smiled.

Aria quietly laughed a faint blush covering her cheeks before she went searching for her brush.

After the pair had both gotten dressed and cleaned up their appearance so it didn't look like they had just had sex they decided to clean up Ezra's apartment. Ezra had explained how his mother was a little bit crazy and always complained when things were out of order.

After putting away all the dirty dishes and making sure all the pillows on the couch were neat the infamous knock sound throughout the apartment alerting them Ezra's mother was here.

Ezra could see Aria visibly tense as she looked nervously at Ezra's front door.

"It will be fine," Ezra promised as he gave her a comforting smile and grabbed her hand. He led them to the door and lightly squeezed Aria's hand before opening it.

**Hope you guys liked this! Next chapter up we meet Dianne.**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I know I told some people I'd update last weekend and I'm sorry! All my teachers decided that since break is soon they should assign a huge paper/project all at the same time. All of your reviews were sooo sweet though and I want to thank you guys so much!**

**Hope you guys like this!**

Ezra opened the door of his apartment, a whiff of Chanel perfume immediately flooding his nose. His mother stood in front of him and smiled at Ezra before moving her eyes to Aria.

"Sorry to drop by," she said. "I was in the area and thought I'd stop in." She reached for Ezra lightly kissing his cheek before facing Aria completely.

"And who's this?" she asked gesturing with her hands.

"This is Aria," Ezra smiled as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "My girlfriend."

Dianne scrunched her eyebrows together and pursed her lips. "What happened to Jackie?" she asked.

Ezra cleared his throat and swallowed. "It's a long story," he explained.

"What a shame, I really liked her," Dianne sighed. She walked into Ezra's apartment and took off her coat placing it on the back of a chair.

Aria could see Ezra getting slightly frustrated as he walked her over to where his mother was standing.

"How long do you think you'll stay?" Ezra wondered. He ran his hand that wasn't holding Aria's through his hair.

"A couple of hours," she shrugged. "I figured we could have lunch, but that was when I thought Jackie would be here, and I know she loves to cook."

"Aria's actually pretty amazing in the kitchen too," Ezra countered. Dianne gave him a sickly sweet smile and turned to Aria.

"I think I could come up with something," Aria offered. She desperately wanted Ezra's mother to like her considering how close her and Ezra were already becoming.

"That's great," Dianne grinned. Aria smiled back before hurriedly walking into Ezra's kitchen. Ezra could hear her rummaging through his drawers and fridge as he gave his mother a look.

"Can I talk to you over there," Ezra pointed to his living room wanting to be far enough away that Aria wouldn't hear them.

Dianne agreed following Ezra over to where he pointed.

"What are you doing," Ezra snapped.

"Ezra what are _you_ doing?" she stressed. "I've been with her for less than a minute and I can already tell there's not much there," she glanced back over at Aria slightly shaking her head.

"Mom, like you said you've known her for no more than a minute," Ezra explained. "She's actually pretty great."

"Ezra," Dianne sighed. "You're _Ezra Fitz_, you deserve someone better. Someone like Jackie," she said.

Ezra dragged a hand down his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why can't you just let me be happy?" Ezra groaned.

"Because I don't think you know what you want," she answered. "She's not in our world Ezra. You come from better than her; the girl didn't even shake my hand."

"You're really unbelievable," Ezra muttered. He sighed heavily before walking over to where Aria was in the kitchen.

"Hey," he smiled as he leaned against the counter.

"Hey," she grinned back. "Does your mom like onions," she held up the white vegetable an unsure look on her face.

Ezra nodded and took the onion out of her hand pulling her close to him. "You don't need to do this if you don't want to. I know she kind of threw it upon you."

Aria shook her head. "I want to," she assured him. "I really want her to like me."

"Just please don't take anything she says to heart," Ezra asked. "Sometimes she doesn't have a filter when she really needs to."

Aria agreed and quickly pecked Ezra on the lips. Ezra curled a piece of hair behind her ear before hugging her tightly then reluctantly letting go.

Aria returned to the meal she was cooking as Ezra went to sit in one of the bar seats across from her. His mother soon returned from the living room taking a seat next to Ezra.

"So how long have you two been seeing each other," Dianne wondered. Aria nervously glanced over at Ezra aware that they really had only been "officially" dating for a couple of days.

"A little while," Ezra replied as Dianne nodded.

An awkward silence filled the room but a little bit later Dianne excused herself to the bathroom leaving Aria and Ezra alone.

"Does she hate me already?" Aria murmured, once she heard Dianne shut the door, down the hall.

"No, of course not," Ezra shook his head. "She's just a little," Ezra pursed his lips trying to come up with the right word. "Crazy," he concluded.

Aria giggled lightly and she put the chopped onions into the pan she had started.

Soon, Aria's meal was finished and the three of them sat at Ezra's dinner table. Aria and Ezra sat on one side, their knees lightly touching, with Dianne on the other.

Ezra could see Aria watching his mother out of the corner of her eye as Dianne took her first bite of the food. Dianne scrunched her eyebrows together and Ezra could see Aria visible tense as she nervously swallowed.

"Does this have onions in it?" Dianne put her fork down as she swallowed what she was chewing.

"Yes," Aria nodded. "Ezra told me you liked them," she explained.

"Oh well I don't," she informed her.

"Do-do you want me to make you something else," Aria began to stand up but Ezra's hand on her arm prevented her from leaving.

"I think my mother can deal with it," Ezra practically glared at Dianne as he tugged on Aria's arm until she was sitting down again.

Dianne cleared her throat as she begrudgingly picked up another forkful. Ezra looked over at Aria who looked like she was about to cry and lightly squeezed her knee. He rubbed circles along it with his thumb as he continued to eat, what he thought was actually a really good dish.

"So what do you do for work Aria?" Dianne asked.

Aria instantly perked up at the mention of her job, and even though it wasn't much, Ezra knew she was proud of it.

"Ezra actually helped me get an internship at Johnson's Publishing House," she smiled.

"Wow you look so young though, did you just graduate college?" Dianne blotted the side of her mouth with her napkin before putting it back in her lap.

"I actually didn't go to college," Aria murmured. A light blush spread across her cheeks as she tried not to meet Dianne's unrelenting stare.

"I see," Dianne forced Aria a smile.

Ezra swallowed the anger building up in his throat as he attempted to not jump across the table and strangle his mother. She knew exactly what she doing, knowing it would cause a reaction in Aria.

Ezra linked his fingers with Aria's on top of the table as a somewhat symbol of defiance toward his mother. He saw her eyes immediately zone in on it as he rubbed his fingers across Aria's knuckles.

Luckily Aria seemed to be oblivious to their silent battle figuring Ezra just felt like displaying some sort of affection. Dianne gave her son a pointed look, before taking a sip out of the glass of water she had.

The rest of the meal was pretty much silent, save for the occasional small talk.

Aria reached for Ezra and Dianne's plate to put them away, but Ezra stopped her.

"You've done enough," he smiled. Aria reluctantly let him take the plates and resumed where she was sitting.

Dianne cleared her throat when Ezra returned indicating she had something to say. "Listen, Aria I know haven't been too friendly and I just want to apologize," she announced. She stood up from her seat and walked over to her coat searching in the pockets for something.

"I'm hosting a benefit tomorrow and I'd love it if you two could come," she said holding up the two tickets she had retrieved.

Aria looked to Ezra who had a disapproving expression on his face.

"I think we're doing something tomorrow," Ezra explained running his hand along the back of his neck.

"Ezra," Dianne stated. She gave him a look that said she knew he was lying and looked to Aria for encouragement.

"I'd love to go," Aria smiled as she turned to look at Ezra.

"Looks like the women have you outnumbered," Dianne chuckled.

"Fine," Ezra sighed taking the two tickets from his mother and placing them on his kitchen counter.

"Great," Dianne said. She grabbed her coat to signify she was leaving and gave Ezra a quick hug. Ezra begrudgingly hugged her back before she moved on to Aria. The two woman hugged as well, before Dianne saw herself out.

"You know we don't have to go to this right?" Ezra held up the tickets rolling his eyes.

"I want to," Aria assured him. "I really don't want your mother to hate me and I think I should get to know her better," Aria reasoned.

"I just don't think she's really being sincere," Ezra confessed. "She's not the most trustworthy person."

"Well there's only one way to find out right?" Aria proposed. Ezra smiled lightly and nodded his head. He pulled Aria closer to him pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Oh and by the way, I thought the meal was delicious," Ezra mumbled into Aria's hair.

"I'm glad one person liked it," Aria's voice was muffled by his shirt as she talked into it. She placed a kiss to the center of Ezra's chest before snuggling her face further into him.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Ezra said. "Would you care to join me," he leaned back from their embrace smiling down at Aria.

"Ezra we just had sex," she laughed.

Ezra shrugged, "What can I say? I'm insatiable around you."

"Well I would _love_ to," Aria giggled, "But I do actually have to get some work done this weekend." She bit her lip as a grin broke out on her face at Ezra's pout.

"Well if you get lonely you know where to find me," Ezra smiled. He tipped Aria's chin up placing a kiss on her soft lips. He pushed his tongue against her teeth effectively getting her to open her mouth so his tongue could go farther in. He lightly gripped her sides pressing his two thumbs into her pelvis. Aria slowly dragged her hand down Ezra's chest stopping right before his belt buckle. Just as Ezra was sure she was going to go further and finally give into his advances Aria pulled away and walked off.

"W-what just happened?" Ezra stood their dumbfounded as Aria began looking through some of her papers.

"I told you I had to work," Aria laughed as Ezra continued to stand there confused.

"Tease," he sneered. He laughed lightly and shook his head before walking out of his kitchen. On the way, he spotted the tickets reminding him of what he and Aria agreed to do tomorrow. He really hoped his mother had, had a change of heart desperately wanting her and Aria to get along. His mother was the type of person who appearance was everything too, and he worried that Aria somehow wouldn't meet up to her "standards." His mother had practically been in love with Jackie herself stating that she was definitely a keeper.

Ezra sighed as he thought about his ex-girlfriend, not wanting to put himself in a bad mood. The only thing keeping him from hating her was that she had brought him and Aria together which he would always be extremely thankful for.

Ezra stayed in the shower a little longer than necessary secretly hoping Aria would eventually come in. After waiting for a while he figured she wasn't going to budge and stepped out. He shut the water off before wrapping a fluffy white towel around his abdomen and walking into his bedroom.

He found Aria on the floor searching through her bags for what he assumed was a more comfortable outfit since he saw a hoodie already next to her.

"Hey," Ezra smiled as he walked further into the room.

Aria turned around from her position on the floor instantly biting her lip as she saw what Ezra was wearing. Her eyes stayed on his hips which the towel was hung from _very_ loosely before allowing her eyes to venture the smallest bit south.

"Enjoying the show," Ezra chuckled.

Aria's face turned red as she realized she had been staring and quickly looked back down to the pile of clothes she was rifling through.

"No," she rolled her eyes. Ezra saw her lips turn up the slightest and could definitely tell she was lying.

"I am going to go take a shower now though," she said.

"You do realize I was just in their right?" Ezra pointed back to where he had come from.

"Yes," Aria nodded, "But if I had joined, you know there's a strong chance we wouldn't have come out for a while longer. And I wanted to finish my work," Aria defended her self.

Ezra held up his hands, "Your loss." Aria smiled at him remembering how he had used that same line not to long after they had met. She had freaked out that they had been in the same bed and now look at where they were.

Ezra watched Aria retreat to the bathroom his eyes glued to her the entire time. Her dark brown hair bounced with each step she took, her curls moving in almost rhythmic way.

When he heard the door to the bathroom shut he dropped his towel on the floor and searched for some clothes. He pulled on a pair of black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt figuring they could stay in tonight.

Soon he heard the water to the shower shut off signaling Aria was done with her shower, but it was quickly replaced with a melodic tone. Ezra walked into he hallway and pressed his ear to the door and heard Aria softly humming.

He closed his eyes as he listened to her voice, amazed at how good she was. The sound made his heart swell as he learned another thing about her.

Suddenly Aria opened the door though causing Ezra to fall flat on his face in front of her since he had been leaning on it.

"Ezra?" Aria widened her eyes as she stared at the man on the floor in front of her stifling a laugh as he managed to get to his knees.

"What were you doing?" she laughed.

Ezra rubbed his head and stood up as he said, "I heard you humming."

"Oh" Aria blushed as she ran a hand through her wet hair before pulling at the sweater she had put on.

"It was beautiful," Ezra smiled. "How come I've never heard you sing before?" he asked.

"I haven't sung in years," Aria shrugged. "I guess I'm just really happy," she admitted.

Ezra bit his own lip at her confession as he stared down at her.

"I'm really happy to," he disclosed.

Aria lightly shook her head and smiled before settling herself in Ezra's arms.

"I'm glad you liked it," she said, "But it was really stupid of you to have been leaning on that door," Aria chuckled.

She pulled away from their embrace placing her hands on either side of his face so she could get a proper look at where he hit his head.

"Just a little bruise," she informed him as she examined it further. "Does it hurt?"

Ezra shook his head. "Not much."

Aria nodded and stood on the tips of her feet so she could press a light kiss to it.

"All better?" she laughed.

"Yes," Ezra smiled.

…

Ezra looked at Aria, both of them facing each other on his bed.

"You still want to go tomorrow?" Ezra asked as he held her hand in his.

"Definitely," Aria nodded. "I think we'll get along much better this time."

Ezra agreed, really hoping they did as well. He knew Aria wasn't as proper as his mother would have liked, but once she got to know Aria he was sure she would love her just as much as she did.

Ezra leaned forward between them kissing Aria's mouth as he brought his hand to rest on her neck. Aria squeezed her ankle in between Ezra's placing her other leg around his torso.

She felt Ezra smile into their kiss as he snaked his arm around her body.

"Do you really think she'll like me?" Aria nervously asked as she pulled away from Ezra's lips.

"You really like getting all worked up for nothing don't you?" Ezra laughed. Aria rolled her eyes before looking back at him wanting a serious answer.

"Yes I do," Ezra answered. "Once she gets to know you there's no way she won't," he assured her.

Aria gave him a weary smile before reattaching their bodies. Ezra cradled her face the kiss becoming more passionate before pulling her entire body flush against his.

…

Ezra looked over the car console at Aria, and watched her knee bouncing up and down. Ezra returned his eyes to the road but placed his hand on her leg, stopping her movements.

"Relax, Aria," he laughed. He rubbed her thigh with his thumb as he turned onto the road the benefit was on.

Aria bit her lip and watched out the window as they got closer and closer to their destination.

Soon, Ezra found a place to park and the pair was walking up the steps into the museum. Ezra held Aria's hand tightly as he gave the guard their tickets. The burly man lifted up the rope allowing them to enter.

Ezra and Aria walked through the museum stopping every once in a while to look at a painting or sculpture. Ezra could tell Aria was slightly uncomfortable being in the highly prestigious atmosphere, but every time he suggested they leave she declined the offer.

"Ezra!" A tall man with dark brown hair and goatee called out. Ezra looked behind him and saw his cousin James.

"Hey," Ezra smiled. "How's it going?"

"Good, good," James replied.

"I see you've met James," Dianne smiled as she walked up to the threesome.

"Hi, Mrs. Fitz," Aria greeted her.

"Dianne honey," she said.

Aria nodded as she repeated, "Dianne."

"Why don't we let the boys talk and we can chat," Dianne offered.

Aria could see Ezra was skeptical of letting Aria off on her own with his mother but Aria immediately agreed not wanting to do anything that would upset her.

Dianne placed her hand on the top of Aria's back leading her over to a more secluded corner.

"So how have you been," Dianne asked. She took a sip of the champagne she was drinking.

"Great," Aria responded. "How about you?"

"Very good," Dianne said. She took another sip of her drink before asking, "So what doyour parents think about Ezra?"

"Well," Aria began. "We're actually not on great terms," she admitted.

Dianne smiled, confusing Aria as she leaned in closer.

"You know Aria, it's really very easy to find out what you need to know about people," Dianne said in a quieter voice.

Aria swallowed, and looked over at Ezra who was still in deep conversation with James.

"A high school dropout," Dianne shook her head making a face.

Aria inhaled sharply feeling tears beginning to prick at the sides of her eyes.

"Ezra doesn't need this," Dianne explained. "And I want to make sure you understand your own motives."

"I don't have any motives," Aria scrunched her eyebrows together taking a step back.

"When you're homeless, I assume you'd do anything for a way out," Dianne figured.

"I'm not using Ezra as a way out," Aria argued. She nervously swallowed, feeling extremely uneasy at how Dianne was able to keep her composure so well.

"You know Aria there can be real world compensations in your ending this," Dianne announced.

"Compensations?" Aria asked.

"I've got your attention at last," Dianne smiled. "I thought I would."

Aria breathed deep before turning on her heel. She felt the tears coming and ignored Dianne's attempts to get her to return. Aria swiped away a tear that had fallen and went to stand outside.

She took a breath of the cold night air and smoothed down her dress.

Ezra glanced over at where he had last seen Aria and his mother, surprised to only find his mother standing there.

"Excuse me," he said to James. Ezra walked over to where his mother was standing as he scanned the museum to see if he could find Aria.

"Where's Aria?" Ezra practically demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dianne pursed her lips and "looked" around for Aria as well.

"Last time I left her she was with you," Ezra explained. He ran a hand through his hair sighing that she was being so unhelpful.

"Maybe she felt out of place," Dianne suggested. "I know these fancy things aren't really her scene."

Ezra shook his head at his mother, not believing she had the audacity to say what she did.

"You can donate to all the museums you want," Ezra muttered, "but you're not fooling anybody. There's not a generous bone in your body."

Ezra turned from his mother, pacing through the museum. He looked around every corner, but still couldn't find Aria. He heard his name being called and turned to see James pointing to the door that led outside. Ezra mouthed a "thank you" before walking out of the building.

He saw Aria sitting on the stone steps, playing with a string on the hem of her dress. Ezra sat next to her, surprising Aria as she hadn't seen him come out.

"Am I just screwing up your life," Aria whimpered as a tear trickle down her cheek.

"What?" Ezra exclaimed. "No, why would you think that?"

"Your mother's right," Aria mumbled. "I'm just a high school dropout who's done nothing with her life."

It literally broke Ezra's heart to see Aria like this and only made his anger for his mother intensify. He was not going to let her send them backwards after he finally convinced Aria they deserved to be together.

He honestly didn't know what to say to make Aria understand but finally realized the only thing he could do was tell her how he really felt.

"I love you Aria."

**Please don't hate me about Dianne. I promise it will bring ezria closer in the end! I hope you guys liked this though! Please review or even tweet me (hidingmyheart10)! 20+ and I'll update this weekend!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm so sorry for such the long wait guys! I was really really sick and couldn't bring myself to write anything.**

**Here's the new chapter now though!**

"What?" Aria breathed. Her eyes widened at Ezra's confession as she leaned back from him.

"I'm sorry," Ezra sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Did I just ruin everything?"

An almost pained expression flitted across Aria's face as she nervously bit her lip. She wasn't answering which was making Ezra quite anxious as he awaited some type of answer from her.

"Aria?" he murmured. He lightly ran his fingers along her jawline and took it as a good sign when she didn't immediately pull away.

"No," she shook her head. "You didn't ruin everything."

Ezra breathed a sigh of relief, beyond happy he hadn't screwed their relationship up.

"I just don't know what to say," Aria admitted. "I've never really been in this situation before."

"Well," Ezra said as he rested his hand on her knee, "You don't have to say it back if you're not ready."

"I want to say it back," she assured him. "And I promise eventually I will."

Ezra nodded in understanding pressing a kiss to her forehead. Aria leaned into his touch as Ezra wrapped his arm around her petite frame. Even though it wasn't too cold out it was still November, meaning there was a slight chill in the air. Ezra ran his hand up and down Aria's arm, trying to give her some warmth.

The two of them sat there in a comfortable silence for a while enjoying the activity of people watching. Since it was New York City a plethora of people were walking in front of the steps of the museum providing an interesting scene to watch.

"I've always liked to observe people because they make for good characters in my stories," Ezra explained.

Aria looked up at him and smiled, before saying that was exactly what she did too.

"Remember Steve, in Nobody Said it was Easy?" Ezra asked.

Aria nodded signifying she remembered.

"He was entirely based on a guy I watched on the subway for an hour," Ezra said.

"That's really cool," Aria smiled. She leaned back into Ezra's side and continued to look out into the streets. She noticed a few people going into the museum giving her and Ezra disgusted looks, making her somewhat uncomfortable under their stare. She figured it was because her and Ezra were sitting on the floor and this was a very prestigious group of people.

"Do you think we should stand up?" Aria mumbled to Ezra as she looked around at the people walking in.

Ezra followed her gaze and realized why she was weary about continuing to sit there.

"I think that we should lie down," Ezra explained. Ezra then proceeded to lie down on the steps with his arms behind his head.

"Ezra what are you doing?" Aria laughed.

"I see no sign saying I can't," he shrugged.

He took ahold of Aria's hand and grinned at her before looking back up into the sky.

"I really admire that about you," Aria said. She went to sit closer to Ezra's head, not wanting to lie down and get her hair dirty.

"What?" he asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"I don't know, that you're so," Aria pursed her lips trying to come up with the right words to describe him. "That you don't care what anyone else thinks," she concluded.

"Most of the time I'm actually just an idiot who doesn't see people," Ezra chuckled.

Aria giggled at his statement and ran her hand along the side of his face. She lightly ran her fingers through his jet black hair before leaning down and kissing his forehead.

Their moment was interrupted though by an annoyed "Ezra!" coming from the entrance of the museum. Ezra sat up and looked to the source of the noise and saw his mother angrily walking towards them.

"You can't talk to me like that, Ezra!" She demanded. "I'm your mother."

Ezra walked closer to Dianne so he was standing right in front of her. "You _knew_ you were making Aria uncomfortable and yet you continued to be like that. Somebody that I would call my mother would never do that."

Dianne stood there in shock as Ezra turned on his heel and grabbed Aria's hand.

"Go ahead and throw your life away," she fumed as the pair walked away from her.

"And this would be one of the times that I actually just don't care what people think," Ezra whispered in Aria's ear. He held up his middle finger behind him, smiling when he heard his mother's exaggerated gasp.

"I cannot believe you just did that," Aria giggled once they were far enough away from Dianne.

Ezra shrugged, "It needed to be done for a long time now."

"I don't want there to be any secrets between us so I want you to know that you're mother offered me a compensation to leave you," Aria said. She bit her lip, somewhat nervous of Ezra's reaction not wanting him to freak out.

Ezra immediately stopped walking and turned to face her, an angry expression on his face. "My mother was going to pay you to break up with me?"

Aria nodded as she curled a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I of course said no," Aria reminded him.

Ezra shook his head stating it was in the past and reattached his hand with Aria's. He swayed it lightly between them as they made the trek to his car.

They finally reached the light grey sedan and reluctantly separated to get into their seats. Once they were both situated, Ezra turned to face Aria.

"I'm sorry tonight didn't go as planned," he apologized as he lightly ran his finger through one of her curls.

"It's fine," Aria said waving her hand. "The only person I cared about seeing tonight was there." She leaned across the console and pecked Ezra's lips as one of her hands cradled his face.

"How long have you been waiting to use that line?" Ezra laughed once they both leaned back in their seats.

Aria mocked offence as she brought her hand to rest on her heart. Ezra gave her a knowing look causing her to erupt into a fit of laughter.

"3 years," she sighed once she had finally caught her breath. "I read it in a book and thought it was really sweet."

Ezra just shook his head at her and chuckled. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips before starting the car.

The ride back to Ezra's apartment was fairly silent, but there was little traffic that night so they got there pretty quick. Aria did have to go to work tomorrow morning, so they both decided going to sleep early would be a good idea. The day's events had exhausted them both, so once they had changed into more comfortable clothes they were able to fall asleep right away.

LB

Ezra woke up sometime in the middle of the night, expecting to pull Aria closer, but was met with empty sheets. He opened his eyes and saw she was gone and didn't see her anywhere else in his room either. Confused he stood up and walked into his living room, relieved when he saw her sitting on his window seat.

"I thought you might have run off again," Ezra confessed as he stepped closer to her.

Aria turned around startled by the noise, but immediately relaxed when she saw it was only Ezra. "I couldn't sleep," she explained.

"Can I sit with you?" Ezra asked. Aria nodded and moved over so he could fit. Each of their backs were at one end of the seat, and their legs were stretched out between them.

Ezra placed his hand on Aria's calf and moved his thumb across her skin. He looked out into the bright lights of the city, mirroring Aria's actions.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ezra wondered. He gave Aria a comforting smile as he lightly squeezed her leg.

Aria scrunched her face up and looked down at her fingers as she tried to word what she was going to say. "It literally took everything in me, not to freak out when you said you loved me," Aria admitted.

She looked back down at her hands as she bit her lip. "I'm always afraid that people are lying because I don't understand how someone could love me."

"Aria," Ezra cooed. He slid closer to her and took her hands in his. "I swear on my life I wasn't lying. I really think I'm falling in love with you."

"I'm just worried that you think you're in love and then you'll realize you're not really," Aria murmured. "I mean I haven't even finished high school, I have no family, I was freaking prostitute," she whimpered.

"Aria, I don't care about those things," Ezra assured her. "You deserve to be loved and it pains me that you can't see that," Ezra explained. "I really love you," he smiled. He swiped away a tear that had fallen from her eye and placed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"What if I can't give you kids?" Aria whispered. "Don't you think it's odd that I've never gotten pregnant with all the unprotected sex I've had? And the one time I was pregnant I lost the baby?" Tears were steadily streaming down Aria's face which were instantly wiped away by Ezra.

"I'll still love you," Ezra stated. "And nothing you just said to me changes how I feel about you."

Ezra tugged Aria closer to him until she was sitting in his lap. Her head was resting on Ezra's heart with his arms wrapped around her body. "If you want we can go to a doctor and get everything checked out," he suggested.

He felt Aria nod against his body and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He ran his hands up and down her back and continued to look out the window. He smiled to himself at how he never would have thought this window seat would hold so much meaning when he bought the apartment. He thought it would be a nice place to read or write but now it was so much more. He remembered back when he kissed Aria in the very same spot and found it interesting how all their midnight confessions seemed to happen right here.

He had no idea that Aria was feeling inadequate because of the pregnancy stuff and it had broken his heart to see her so distraught. He had always thought he wanted children, but now that he was really thinking about it he didn't think he wanted them unless Aria was there mother.

A bright white snowflake hit the window which was soon followed by many more. Ezra smiled as he looked up into the sky and saw the little pieces of snow falling.

"It's snowing," he stated as he looked down at Aria.

When he didn't get a response he leaned back a little so he could see Aria's face and realized she had fallen asleep. He decided not to move her just yet and instead watched the snow fall for a little while longer.

Eventually he felt his own eyelids becoming heavy and carefully got up off the seat. He gingerly placed one of his hands under Aria's back and the other under her legs. Since she was so tiny he had no problem lifting her and carrying her to his bed. He placed her down on her side and tucked her in, before joining her.

He brought her closer and rested his arm around her torso. He leaned his face against the back of her neck before pressing a kiss to the top of her shoulder.

"I love you Ezra," she mumbled.

Ezra eyes widened at her confession as he sat up.

"Aria?" he whispered. She didn't respond confirming Ezra's suspicions that she was sleep talking. It disappointed him a little that wasn't awake, but he figured it was a step in the right direction. Maybe if she was saying while she was unconscious, she was on the right track to saying it when she was conscious.

Ezra smiled at Aria and resumed his position before she had spoken and soon fell asleep.

LB

A ringing throughout Ezra's apartment woke the two of them causing them to groan. It was pretty early so Ezra didn't understand why someone would be calling. He reached to his bedside table until he finally grasped the phone.

"Hello?" he mumbled.

Aria watched him as he talked on the phone before looking at the time. She figured she should probably get ready for work soon and went to stand up. She was immediately pulled back down though by Ezra.

"Work is canceled because of the snow," Ezra explained as he hung up the phone.

"And you didn't think you could just tell me that?" Aria laughed. Ezra shook his head and pulled her close to him instantly attaching their lips together.

As Ezra pushed his tongue into Aria's mouth he wondered if she had any recollection of what she had said last night. He wanted to ask her, but he knew that it might scare her off.

Ezra flipped them over so he was on top and pressed his chest to hers. He could feel her nipples harden through the fabric of her shirt as he dragged his hand down her side. He began sucking at her neck leaving what he assumed would be a fairly large hickey, their heated moans and groans filling the room.

Ezra reached for the hem of Aria's shirt and slowly peeled it off her body. He threw it somewhere behind him as he buried his face in her chest.

Aria panted loudly as Ezra nipped and sucked at her sensitive mounds her hands finding their way into his hair. She lightly gripped it as Ezra continued to ravish her with his mouth.

Ezra trailed his lips down the center of her stomach stopping right before the beginning of her panties.

Aria realizing what Ezra was about to do, panicked and tugged at his hair so he would look up at her.

"I've never," she admitted a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Ezra scrunched his eyebrows together and gave her a confused look. "I thought you…"

Aria shook her head, "I do the favors. People don't do them for me."

"Do you want to stop?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head. "I just wanted to let you know."

Ezra smiled and nodded as he resumed his spot on her stomach. He pressed a kiss to her core through her underwear causing Aria to inhale sharply. Ezra gripped her hips as he placed one kiss on the insides of her thighs.

He could see how nervous Aria was as he gently dragged down her last piece of modesty and threw it to the floor. He noticed how wet she already was as he slowly slid a finger into her.

He heard her make some breathy noise which alone practically sent him over the edge. He dipped his head between her two legs and languidly licked the length of her core.

He felt Aria's legs press slightly closer to his head as she groaned his name.

"Ezra," Aria breathed as she pulled on his hair again. She brought him up to her lips explaining that she wanted him inside of her now. She could taste her own arousal on Ezra's lips as he kissed her.

Aria reached between them and pushed off Ezra's pajama pants. She could feel his erection pressing at her thigh as she grasped the back of Ezra's neck. Ezra guided his throbbing member to her center wasting no time in pushing it in.

He began to move within her, each thrust harder than the one before. Aria's soft pants soon turned into breathy cries as Ezra's grunts became louder as well. Soon they climaxed around each other with one final primal yell.

Ezra slumped against Aria as they each tried to catch their breath. Ezra finally had enough strength to move and pulled out of her. He walked over to where he had left their clothes and pulled on his pants before tossing Aria her shirt. Aria pulled it over her head before pulling the covers up to her waist.

"This is why I love snow days," Ezra laughed as he joined Aria on the bed. "We can stay in bed all day if we want."

Aria smiled and bit her lip before pressing a kiss to his lips.

"Do you want me to make us breakfast?" she asked.

"You don't have to," Ezra said. "I'm sure there's something here I can make without burning the place down," he smiled.

"I don't think we should take the chance," Aria grinned back. "Besides I enjoy cooking."

"Okay," Ezra agreed. "I'm just going to hop in the shower real quick."

Aria nodded and went to pull on some sweatpants. Just as she was going to leave the room and Ezra was going to go into the bathroom she called his name.

Ezra turned around and faced Aria.

"I wasn't asleep last night," she murmured a small smile gracing her pink lips.

Ezra bit his lip immediately understanding what she was referring to.

Aria grinned at him before giving him a small laugh and disappearing down the hall.

Ezra ran a hand through his hair a goofy smile still plastered on his face as he walked into his bathroom.

**Hope you guys liked this! Please review! And Happy Holidays!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you guys sooo much for the reviews and the comments on twitter! I can't express enough how sweet you guys are and it seriously means so much that people are even taking the time to read this!**

**Also, I changed my username on twitter, so instead of hidingmyheart10, I am now proudofhale.**

Ezra smiled to himself as he stepped onto the cold tile floor of his bathroom, simultaneously grabbing a towel off the rack on his wall.

Aria had said she loved him.

He still couldn't quite believe it himself considering how hard she said it was for her. He was afraid this was all some dream he would wake up from in moments, but as he stepped under the almost scalding water the reality of it all really hit him.

He was in love and she loved him back.

Ezra wouldn't say he was ever really in love with Jackie, more so the idea of her. Having a girlfriend by ones sides at all times was a comforting thought, but now having Aria as his girlfriend meant so much more.

He thought back to last night when Aria had been so distressed over the fact that she might not be able to have kids as he grabbed his bottle of shampoo. He remembered how upset she had been when she had told him about when she had lost her baby, but in a way last night seemed worse. Ezra assumed the idea of "never" would be hard to cope with especially when one had already suffered a loss.

Ezra planned on calling his doctor's office to see if they would take Aria as a new patient since she had mentioned she wanted to get checked out. He briefly wondered if they would need some sort of identification or even a birth certificate which he knew Aria didn't have with her. He also figured she would not be receptive to the idea of getting it from her parents which he assumed they had.

Ezra shook the thought from his head and filed it away for another time, not wanting to waste their day off together by thinking too much.

Aria left Ezra's room with a smile plastered on her face as she made her way to his kitchen. It had felt good to tell him she loved him last night. It had felt right. All her life she thought that no one would ever have the ability to love her, but the way Ezra acted made her believe him. She thought the fact that Ezra said it didn't matter if she couldn't have kids was extremely sweet, even if she wasn't too sure if he actually felt that way.

Aria bent down to grab the flour from Ezra's pantry as well as the baking powder. She planned on making them pancakes, thinking it would be a nice breakfast for such a cold day.

A little while later she heard the water to the shower turn off just as she was finishing up the first two pancakes. She carefully put them on a plate and put new spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan.

Ezra slid into a pair of jeans and some random long sleeve shirt after his shower inhaling the intoxicating smell coming from his kitchen. He hurriedly dried his hair with a towel before walking out of his room.

Aria looked up as Ezra entered his kitchen a smile quickly spreading across her face. Ezra returned the grin before going to stand behind her. He wrapped his arms around her torso and leaned his chin on her shoulder as he watched her flip the pancakes over.

"They're in the shape of a heart," he noticed. Aria turned around and nodded pressing a kiss to Ezra's lips.

"I love you," she murmured.

"I love you too," Ezra smiled. Aria turned back around to tend to the food as Ezra resumed his place on her shoulder.

"It really means a lot to me to hear you say that," Ezra stated. "I know how hard it was for you." Ezra pressed his lips into the side of her neck reveling in the warmth of her skin on his cheek.

Aria turned around once again and brought her hands up to cradle Ezra's face.

"It means a lot to me that you took me in when I had nothing. And it means a lot to me that you took the time to get me a job. And it means a lot me that you actually care about how I feel," Aria bit her lip as she moved her thumb across Ezra's stubble. "I didn't think I would ever be able to say it, but when I'm with you it feels right."

A smile broke across Ezra's face at her confession as he quickly moved towards her and pressed his lips against hers. He tangled his hands in her thick brown locks as Aria rested her hands against his abdomen. Their tongues mingled together in perfect harmony as the kiss got deeper.

Aria giggled against Ezra's lips as he backed them up against the counter pressing his body against hers. He bought his hands to rest under her thighs and lifted her up so she was sitting on the counter. They managed to do that without breaking the kiss as Aria wrapped her legs around Ezra and pulled him closer.

Eventually needing to breathe they reluctantly broke apart, but continued to stay wrapped around one another. Ezra grinned down at her and lightly placed a kiss on her nose before resting his hands on her thighs.

"As much as I'd love to continue this I'm not going to let you ruin another meal by letting it burn," Aria laughed. She unhooked her legs from around Ezra and jumped down from the counter, quickly going to take the heart shaped items from off the stove.

Ezra bit his lip as he watched Aria move around his kitchen amazed that someone so perfect could be his.

"Do you have any idea how happy you make me?" Ezra asked.

Aria looked up at him and blushed as she lightly shook her head. "Do _you_ have any idea how happy you make _me_?" she countered.

"Not as happy as you make me," Ezra argued.

Aria softly laughed as she grabbed both their plates and brought them to the table. Ezra followed suit as they both sat down and began to eat the meal.

"So I was thinking since we have the whole day together we could go into the city or something," Ezra proposed. "Since it's winter all the lights will be up too."

"That sounds really nice," Aria smiled as she cut up the food on her plate.

The pair continued to eat, each one stealing a glance at the other every once in a while. They finished up pretty quickly, having worked up an appetite from their morning activities. Ezra grabbed both their dishes and cleaned up the rest of his kitchen while Aria took a quick shower of her own and got dressed.

Ezra took ahold of Aria's hand as she met him by the door as they walked out together. Ezra lightly squeezed her hand as Aria leaned against him while they waited for the elevator to arrive.

Soon a high ding alerted them it was here before they each stepped into the closed box.

"Are you going to tell me exactly where were going," Aria asked as she looked up at him.

"Nope," Ezra shook his head. "It's a surprise."

Aria sighed, "So there's no way I can coerce you into telling me?" she wondered.

Ezra shook his head again inhaling sharply as Aria brought her hand to Ezra's chest pushing her body closer to his.

"That is not fair," Ezra said as he quickly detached himself from her knowing where it would have gone from there.

Luckily the elevator doors opened again and Ezra was able to immediately step out.

"I didn't even do anything yet," Aria chuckled.

"I know but if you had there's no way I would have been able to resist your attempts," Ezra told her.

Aria shook her head and laughed at him before reattaching their hands. Ezra led them outside to the streets of New York City explaining how it was within walking distance of his apartment building.

They walked for a little while but after turning a corner it was now obvious where they were going. Rockefeller center was just up the street along with the many stores that surrounded it.

"I thought we could go ice skating and since you're a girl I figured you might like to go shopping afterwards," Ezra explained.

Ezra looked down at Aria who was staring ahead an almost sad expression on her face. "Hey are you ok?" Ezra asked. He turned to face her and lightly curled a piece of hair behind her ear.

"What?" Aria said as she glanced up at him.

"I asked if you were ok," Ezra repeated.

"My parents used to take me and my brother here every year," Aria mumbled. She looked out onto the rink a distant look in her eyes.

"Do you want to go?" Ezra asked. He felt really bad now knowing that he had probably brought up memories Aria would rather not remember.

"No," Aria shook her head. "They've already done enough damage, I'm not going to let them ruin this for us too," she smiled.

Ezra leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling back and giving her a sad smile back. He reached out his hand towards her which she immediately took as they walked down to where you could buy ice skates.

Once they both had their skates on they unsteadily walked to the entrance of the rink.

"I probably should have said this before, but I can't skate at all," Ezra admitted. He looked out to the people whizzing by him, his face reflecting his nervousness.

"Ezra," Aria laughed, "Why did you take us to an ice skating rink then?"

Ezra shrugged, "I thought you would like it."

Aria lightly kissed Ezra on the cheek before grasping his hand. "I'll help you."

Aria carefully led them onto the ice making sure Ezra was on the side where the wall was.

"Just hold on to this and I'll skate around you," Aria said.

Ezra very ungracefully was able to move somewhat, but his death grip on the railing showed his uncertainty.

Aria glided on the ice alongside of him, thankful she had learned to skate when she was younger. She watched Ezra awkwardly take steps along the ice quietly laughing to herself.

"Are you laughing at me?" Ezra demanded. He looked over at her and playfully scowled when he saw her smiling.

"I have to admit I didn't think you'd be this bad," Aria teased.

"That hurt," Ezra brought his hand to rest on his heart, but immediately put it back on the wall when he had almost fallen down.

"I rest my case," Aria laughed referring to Ezra's near slip. "Maybe we should skip the skating," she suggested.

"Maybe that would be best," Ezra agreed. Aria smiled at him and took his hand so she could lead him back to the entrance of the rink.

After returning their skates and putting their real shoes back on the pair walked to the buildings right next to the rink where all of the shops were.

Aria ended up taking the lead on where to go since Ezra really didn't have any clue about clothing or stores. They ended up stopping in a tourist shop just for fun since both of them had lived in the city their entire lives. Aria pulled on Ezra's hand through the store reminding him of a small child. Ezra smiled to himself at Aria's fascination at some of the knick knacks along the walls and realized she probably hadn't been shopping for fun in years.

"I'm going to go look over there," Aria said pointing to another part of the store.

"Ok," Ezra nodded. He watched Aria walk off before looking around the area he was in himself.

A collection of charms caught his eye in a case behind him, all of them relating to something that had to do with New York. He saw a little piece of pizza reminding him of all the times he and Aria had shared it. It had been there first meal ever together and now it was their go to, whenever they ordered in.

He got the attention of one of the employees who worked there so they could open the case for him. A guy who looked about 16 or 17 came over to help him and also rung it up for him.

Ezra quickly made his way over to where Aria was standing excited to give her, her present.

"Close your eyes," Ezra instructed.

"Why?" Aria laughed.

"You'll see," Ezra said. Once he was sure Aria wasn't looking he took ahold of her wrist and clipped the charm onto the silver chain.

"Ok open," Ezra murmured.

Aria opened her eyes and looked down at her wrist before looking back up at Ezra. "It's perfect," she whispered. She brought her hand to rest on the side on Ezra's face before placing a kiss on his lips.

"When I saw it I immediately though of you," Ezra explained.

Ezra brushed a lock of hair away from Aria's cheek as his other hand grasped her smaller one. He attached their lips again this time pushing his tongue into her awaiting mouth. Aria sighed in contentment as Ezra trailed his fingers down her neck their lips still locked together. Ezra's knuckles lightly grazed the top of Aria's breasts causing her to instantly pull back.

"Ezra we're in a public place," she laughed.

Ezra shrugged as he lightly nibbled at her neck, "We're in a corner, no one can see us," he mumbled into her skin.

Aria bit her lip and rested her hands behind Ezra's head as he continued to leave love bites along her skin.

"And if someone comes?" Aria asked.

"The embarrassment would be worth it," Ezra figured.

Aria moved her fingers through Ezra's black locks as Ezra's hands did some exploring of their own. They were currently resting at Aria's hips but as they subtly made their way lower Aria could feel her own excitement rising. She had to admit it was kind of hot to know that they could be caught at any moment, but not really wanting to she stifled a groan as Ezra's hand finally made it to their destination.

"Mom, Dad, Hey!"

At the voice of the guy at the register Aria and immediately jumped apart from each other, a slight blush covering both of their cheeks.

Ezra looked to the front of the store where he saw the guy that had been helping him earlier greet two older people who he figured were his parents.

He could feel Aria tense under his touch causing him to instantly look back at her. Her face was pale white and resembled what he would assume she would look like if she had seen a ghost.

"Aria?" Ezra said.

"That's my brother," she whispered.

Ezra looked back to the guy seeing somewhat of a resemblance between the two.

"If that's your brother…" he trailed off.

"Those are my parents," she swallowed.

**Don't hate me for the cliffhanger haha. This chapter was more of a filler chapter but the next one is going to be much much more eventful! Please review or tweet me so I can hear your feedback. I'm curious what you guys think her parents should do when they see Aria. If I get 25+ I will update on Monday! **


	10. Chapter 10

**The response to last chapter was soooo amazing, I couldn't even believe it! Thank you guys for getting me to over 200 reviews! :D I hope this lives up to everyone's expectations and was worth the wait!**

Aria stared ahead of her a horrified expression on her face as her eyes continued to watch the three people interacting at the front of the store.

"I can't let them see me," Aria whimpered as her eyes started to become glassy.

"We can just wait until they leave," Ezra suggested. He looked down at Aria, his heart crumbling at the sight of her looking so broken. Aria quickly wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eye with the back of her sleeve as she tried to regain her composure.

Ezra glanced back over to the front of the store and noticed Aria's brother walking towards them. Ezra looked to Aria who was obviously panicking as she turned her back to her oncoming brother.

"Hey, man you left your wallet up there," her brother, who Ezra remembered went by the name of Mike said.

"Oh wow thank you," Ezra responded. He quickly took the leather square from Mike's outstretched hands and hoped he hadn't recognized Aria.

"I assume this is the girlfriend you go that charm for?" Mike smiled as he gestured to the small brunette still facing away from him.

Ezra awkwardly nodded and looked between Mike and Aria uncertain of what he was supposed to do. Mike gave Aria on odd glance before explaining how he should probably get back to the register.

Aria finally turned around when Mike had left, and looked to Ezra. He could tell she was on the verge of tears and extremely overwhelmed as she buried her face in Ezra's chest. Ezra lightly dragged his hand along her back as he stole one more glimpse back at Aria's parents. He was expecting them to be chatting to Mike or milling around the store themselves however he was not prepared to find Aria's mother staring back at him.

Her mother was looking at the two of them curiously her head tilted slightly to the side. Ezra not knowing what to do continued to look back, feeling himself tense under the older woman's gaze. Aria apparently could feel the change in Ezra's demeanor and brought her head up to see what he was doing.

Aria looked to the front of the store as well, unintentionally making eye contact with the last person she hoped to ever see. Aria could hear the audible gasp that escaped her mother's lips as she brought a hand to rest on her chest.

Aria stared straight ahead feeling as if she was glued to the floor as her mother alerted her father and brother of her presence. They too turned around to look at her, the same astonished expression written across their faces.

"Aria?" Mike breathed.

A pained look flitted across Aria's face as her family all looked at one another incredulously.

Mike strode across the store immediately pulling Aria into a hug when he reached her. Aria relaxed into Mike's embrace as he squeezed her tighter. Her and Mike had always had a pretty good relationship since at times, when her parents were out or working it was just the two of them. When Aria had left home Mike was about 14 and she knew it had left him distraught. She always vowed one day she would go back and find him, but preferably when he wasn't with her parents.

Aria rested her face in Mike's shoulder as a few sobs emitted from her chest. She had missed Mike so much she couldn't even begin to explain it. He was her best friend growing and most of the time the only person there for her at all.

They finally released one another just as Aria's parents made their way over to where Aria, Ezra, and Mike were standing.

Aria immediately tensed at the sight of her parents, taking a slight step back so she was now closer to Ezra. She honestly didn't know what to expect from them and wasn't sure there was any way she would be able to stay civil.

"Aria," Ella nodded in her direction as Byron cleared his throat and looked down at the floor.

Aria didn't respond, but merely looked at them her face expressionless.

"And this is?" Ella gestured to Ezra who instantly stepped forward and extended his hand.

"Ezra," he answered as he shook Ella, Byron, and Mike's hand.

An awkward silence developed between the five of them, their eyes all refusing to meet anyone else's. Aria's however stayed trained on her parents, the anger and hurt evident in them.

"This is silly," Byron finally said, breaking the silent tension. "Your mother and I know we've had our differences, but you're still our daughter, Aria."

Aria shrugged as if it Byron's statement hadn't really affected her, but Ezra could tell it had. The slight pout in her lips and down casted eyes were subtle, but Ezra definitely noticed them.

Ezra placed his hand on Aria's lower back to which she gave him an appreciative smile. The tension in the air was so thick it could have been cut with a knife, but having Ezra close to her made Aria feel like she could get through it.

"Have dinner with us tonight?" Ella asked. "We can catch up," Ella said as she gave Aria a soft smile.

"I can't," Aria's voice was slightly strained as she shook her head and looked at the floor. "It would be too hard to look at you across a table with what you did."

"Aria," Byron sighed. "We're trying to make things better, please."

"Where were you for 3 years?" Aria asked. She bit her lip as more tears threatened to fall as she stared at her parents awaiting their answer.

"We didn't know where you were," Ella explained. "How were we supposed to find you?"

"Do you hear yourselves?" Aria asked. "You didn't know where your sixteen year old daughter was," she spit out. "Who doesn't know where their own child is?" Aria's voice rose in volume as well as in pitch, her throat tight from all the unshed tears.

"Don't talk to your mother like that," Byron shook his head as he extended is pointer finger towards Aria. "You know exactly why we had to do what we did."

"I made a mistake!" Aria exclaimed as the tears that had been threatening to fall finally did. "And you threw me out on the streets." She wiped furiously at her eyes as more sobs ripped through her chest.

"Aria listen," Ella began. She reached out to gently touch Aria's shoulders, to which Aria instantly pulled away as if she had been burned.

"No," Aria shook her head vigorously. "You ruined my life and I don't think I can ever forgive for that," she whimpered. "I'll never understand how someone could do that to their own kid."

"I think your overreacting Aria," Byron stated. He ran a hand behind his neck expelling a breath.

"I was homeless for 3 years!" Aria practically shrieked.

The sudden outburst surprised both Byron and Ella, and luckily they were the only people in the store at the moment.

A continuous stream of tears were flowing down Aria's face as she pushed past her parents and left through the entrance to the store.

Ezra didn't know if he should follow her or give her some space, her parents uncertain as well.

"Maybe I should go talk to her?" Ezra jutted his thumb towards the front of the shop, but Ella shook her head.

"Can I do it please?" she asked. Ezra was hesitant to let her fearing she would only make it worse with Aria than it already was.

"I know you probably don't think much of me right now, but I just need to talk to her," Ella almost begged. Ezra nodded in understatement and watched as she went to follow Aria.

Ella cautiously opened the door to the store and turned to see Aria sitting on the floor not too far away. She went to go stand by her, but like she expected was treated as if she wasn't even there.

"I know you probably hate me right now and I understand," Ella said as she sat down next to where Aria was sitting.

"Your father and I weren't there for you and Mike as kids and I'll always be sorry for that. I will always regret kicking you out and I hope you know that," Ella confessed. "Please understand that."

Aria looked up from where she had, had her head resting on her knees her cheeks blotchy and red. "I just don't know how I could forgive you for what you did," Aria whispered, her voice strained from crying.

"I know," Ella nodded. "I don't blame you." She lightly placed her hand on Aria's and took it as a good sign she didn't pull away. "I don't expect you to forgive me for a while but maybe one day?" she wondered.

Aria slightly nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe."

Ella gave her a soft smile glad Aria hadn't dismissed the idea right away. The two of them sat in silence for a while each of them consumed by their own thoughts.

Eventually Ella made a move to get up and stretched out her hand for Aria to grab. Aria was hesitant at first but took it as she lifted herself off the ground as well before the pair walked back to the store.

LB

After Ella left, Ezra, Byron, and Mike continued to stand there neither of them really knowing what to say. Ezra could tell Byron had been affected by Aria's words, as his facial expression showed his concern and regret.

"Can I ask you something?" Byron asked as he looked up at Ezra.

"Of course," Ezra nodded as he put his hands in his pockets.

"I know Aria was on the streets and I'm just wondering how you met her?" Byron wondered.

Ezra had always been horrible at lying even as a young child, causing him to get extremely nervous. He certainly didn't think it would be a good idea to tell him the truth, but he was afraid his tapping finger or slightly stuttered speech would give it away.

"I um, we met in a restaurant," Ezra said, figuring it was a plausible scenario.

"Do you know how she got the money?" Byron asked. Ezra could tell Byron already had some ideas in his head, his face reflecting how he was trying to piece everything together.

Ezra cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair as he nervously swallowed.

"Is it what I think it is?" Byron's face twisted into a pained expression as Ezra nodded figuring he had pretty much figured it out himself.

"Did you really meet her at a restaurant?" Byron's voice became more stern than it was just moments before.

When Ezra didn't answer, due to his inability to need to tell the truth he felt like he could visibly see the steam coming out of Byron's ears. Before he knew it he felt a fist flying, hitting him square in the lip.

Ezra backed up and grasped his face just as he heard a shrill, "Mike!" coming from the entrance of the store. Ezra could taste the blood pooling at the side of his mouth, the iron flavor making him nauseous.

Not even two seconds later he felt Aria's presence at his side as she lightly took ahold of his chin and turned it to face her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Aria demanded as she whipped her head around to look at Mike. He shook his head mouthing an "I'm sorry."

"Aria, what this man did to you was sick and if Mike hadn't punched him I would have," Byron seethed. His face reflected his disgust for Ezra as he looked at the man still holding his jaw.

"What are you talking about?" Aria looked to her father and then Mike for some sort of explanation.

"I know how you two met, and whether or not you want to believe it, he's taking advantage of you," Byron pointed his finger to Ezra, while Aria shook her head in anger.

"We're leaving," Aria stated. She took ahold of Ezra's hand, tugging him through the store ignoring her father's attempts for her to come back.

Aria pulled Ezra to the nearest corner where she didn't think her parents would come after her and she would be able to inspect his cut.

"Does it hurt?" Aria asked as she lightly dabbed it with a napkin she had, had in her coat pocket.

Ezra slightly winced when Aria pressed on, but explained that it wasn't too bad.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I don't know what Mike was thinking." Aria wiped away the last of the blood and softly kissed his wound.

"They were just trying to protect you," Ezra shrugged. He pulled Aria into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head ignoring the pinch he felt on his mouth. "You do know that this relationship means more to me than sex right?" Ezra asked.

"Of course," Aria instantly replied. She looked up at him and ran her fingers across Ezra's cheek eventually moving into his hair. "You wouldn't be here comforting me when you just got punched in the face if it didn't," she smiled.

Ezra grinned back at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead lightly running his hand along her back.

"How did things with your mom go?" Ezra asked. He pulled back a little from their embrace so he could look at Aria while she answered.

"Actually really good," she admitted. "She told me how much she regretted kicking me out, and while our relationship isn't going to be fixed right away I think maybe one day we'll get there."

"Well I'm really happy for you," Ezra said. "You deserve it."

"Thank you," Aria smiled. Ezra nodded knowing her thank held much more meaning than for what he just said.

"Do you want to go home?" Ezra asked.

"Yes," Aria laughed. "After the day we've had I think that would be nice."

Ezra smiled and held out his hand which Aria immediately took. The pair walked out of the building together the drama of the past half an hour forgotten and saved to be dealt with later. Every once in while Ezra would look down at Aria as they walked the streets of New York City, his heart swelling with every glance he took. He shook his head lightly laughing at himself with how enamored he was. Aria was literally always on his mind and it was days like these that made him realize just how special she was to him.

They finally reached Ezra's apartment building, breaking Ezra from his thoughts. Ezra gave a short wave to the doorman before he and Aria took the elevator up to the third floor.

The elevator finally reached its destination and opened its doors allowing Aria and Ezra to get out.

"How does a quiet night with pizza sound?" Ezra asked once the two got into the apartment.

"It sounds perfect," Aria smiled as she took off her coat and put it on a nearby chair.

LB

After ordering pizza and having it delivered Aria and Ezra decided a movie night on the couch would be perfect after the hectic day they had gone through.

Aria was currently sitting with her legs across Ezra's her plate resting on her stomach while Ezra's rested on Aria's legs. With the hand that wasn't holding his pizza Ezra was softly rubbing Aria's feet and ankles as an old film played on Ezra's screen in front of them.

Finally finishing their meals Ezra took both their plates and stacked them on the coffee table in front of him. Aria sat up and curled into Ezra's side still keeping her legs on his lap. Ezra smiled down at her and wrapped his arm around her torso pressing a kiss to her neck. It still hurt to put pressure on his lip, but it felt much better than it had a couple hours ago.

"Does your lip feel better?" Aria asked as she leaned back so she could get a better look at it.

Ezra nodded, but Aria could see the slight look of pain in his eyes as he tried to smile.

Aria gave him a knowing look and laughed when he just shrugged. "Well I'm ordering you to not use your lips until it gets better," Aria stated.

"How will I kiss you?" Ezra pouted. Aria giggled at his disappointed expression reminding him of a small child who didn't get the candy they wanted.

"Well we can do other things besides kiss," Aria pointed out. She moved closer to his ear her hot breath causing Ezra to shiver. "And my lips work just fine." She pressed a kiss to Ezra's earlobe before slowly trailing them across his cheek and down his neck.

Ezra groaned, his grip on Aria's hips becoming tighter the movie in the background now long forgotten.

Aria began kissing her way down Ezra's chest, resting her hands on the side of his abdomen. Ezra moved his fingers through Aria's luscious locks kissing the top of her head, ignoring Aria's previous order.

"You're not supposed to be using your lips," she mumbled into his chest.

"I couldn't resist," Ezra shrugged.

Aria moved her way back up to Ezra's neck beginning to suck on his flesh. She lightly bit it smiling into his skin when she heard Ezra softly moan.

Ezra not being able to take the torture anymore flipped them around so Aria was underneath him. Ezra began kissing Aria's collarbone and dipping his head between the valley of her breasts even though the rough motion was pulling at his cut again.

"Ezra," Aria breathed as he began unbuttoning her jeans. Ezra tugged the dark blue fabric down her legs sitting up on his knees so he could get them all the way off. Aria reached out her hands and popped the button on Ezra's pants and pulling down the zipper. Ezra grinned down at her and stood up so he could push his pants to the floor.

Aria bit her lip as Ezra discarded his boxers as well her eyes trained on his member. Ezra lowered himself back onto the couch roughly gripping Aria's panties and throwing them to the floor.

"I love you Aria," Ezra murmured. "Always remember that," he smiled. Aria smiled back before pulling Ezra onto her so they could finally become one.

**Hope you guys liked this! New PLL tomorrow Ahhhhhhh I'm so excited haha! I'm really hoping the Ezria scenes are good!**

**Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks so much for the reviews and tweets you guys! You are all too sweet!**

**I just wanted to clarify that Mike punched Ezra for the same reason as on the show, so for those of you that were mad at him he was trying to help Aria. That's why he mouthed I'm sorry. And some people thought Aria forgave her parents too easily, but I made her do that because even though she's mad at them she still want's a relationship with them. **

**Anyways hope that you all enjoy this!**

Ezra pulled the blanket wrapped around him and Aria closer resting his head right above hers. Both of them had been too tired to get up from the couch so they decided they would just sleep there for the night. Aria unfortunately did have work tomorrow so Ezra grabbed his phone from the pocket of his jeans on his floor and set an alarm for when they would need to get up.

Ezra leaned back onto the couch resuming the place he had been in before he, had to move. Ezra and Aria were both lying on the couch length wise facing each other. Ezra was on the inside while Aria was snuggled up to his chest, a position they practiced often.

Ezra brushed a lock of hair away from Aria's face who smiled and closed her eyes as Ezra's fingers grazed her cheek. Aria opened her eyes again and looked up at Ezra who continued to stare lovingly down at her.

Aria pursed her lips as her eyes landed upon Ezra's lip again a wave of guilt passing through her again. His cut had split open again due to the very rough kissing they had been doing, but luckily it hadn't bled for too long.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ezra stared at her knowingly as she continued to inspect his cut while worrying her lips between her teeth.

"You shouldn't have kissed me so hard," Aria said as she lightly traced her finger over it.

"Aria," Ezra took ahold of her hands bringing them down from his face. "I am not going to let you feel guilty over this. There was no way you could have known your parents were going to be there and in a way it's my fault for letting your father figure out how we met."

Aria shook her head and looked down at Ezra's chest her teeth sliding across her lip again.

"I want to forgive them so bad, and then they do things like this," Aria murmured.

"You could think about it like your father was trying to protect you," Ezra suggested. "I think he just didn't want you to get hurt."

Aria shrugged and rested her forehead against Ezra's chest as she sighed. "I forgave my mom so easily for what she did because I want a relationship with my parents so bad," she admitted. "I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive them completely though."

"What they did was horrible," Ezra agreed. "And I don't think anyone would judge you if you didn't want anything to do with them."

"I'm just so mad at my dad," Aria mumbled. "He has no right to just show up in my life and start telling me who I can and can't see."

Ezra nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead his hand going to rest on her side.

"You don't have to decide on anything now, but I think it would be a good idea to sleep on it," Ezra said.

Aria agreed and moved herself closer to Ezra as she placed a kiss on the middle of his chest. Ezra embraced her tighter his lips lingering on the top of her head. Soon their breaths evened out as the two of them fell into the realm of sleep.

LB

A loud tune played from Ezra's phone alerting the two of them to get up. Ezra sighed and reached over Aria to turn off the alarm as Aria shifted beneath him. She rubbed her eyes her back cracking as she reluctantly stood up.

Ezra could tell how tired she was by the bags under her eyes that were slightly watery. He figured she was probably up for the majority of the night thinking about her relationship with her father.

"I'm going to forgive him," Aria blurted out. She looked to Ezra as she clasped her hands together and lightly pulled on her fingers.

Ezra smiled and walked over to her as he brought her into a hug. "I think that's wonderful," he stated.

Aria softly smiled as she wrapped her arms around Ezra's abdomen. "I think life's too short to hold a grudge and if they want to try and make it work I should too," Aria explained.

"Do you know how you're going to contact them? Ezra asked.

"Well I'm hoping they still have the same address as when I was kid," Aria said.

"If not we'll find them," Ezra stated.

Aria smiled up at him pressing a kiss to his lips. "I love you," she murmured against his mouth."

Ezra laughed lightly as he cradled Aria's face between his hands. "I love you too."

After the two of them got ready they made their way to Ezra's car. Ezra was planning on dropping her off and going to hang out in his apartment until it was time to pick her up again. Even though Aria looked extremely tired Ezra could tell a part of her was happier. He knew how much being on good terms with her parents meant to her and her new found decision would make that a reality.

Ezra placed his hand on Aria's knee as he pulled out of his parking space. Aria responded by putting her hand on top of his lightly running her thumb across his knuckles.

Ezra turned a corner but was quickly met with confusion from cars as well as civilians. He soon saw an ambulance as well as two cars that looked pretty beat up. He could hear the shouting voices and car horns through his window making the accident scene even more eerie. Ezra decided to turn around knowing an alternate route that he could go. Seeing crashes always left him feeling weird and he could tell Aria was unsettled as well.

Ezra moved his thumb across Aria's knee trying to get rid of the uncomfortable air as he tried to change the subject.

"I didn't want to make you more upset last night, but I got you an appointment at my doctor's office," Ezra said.

Aria looked over at him and bit her lip as she nodded. "Today?"

"Yeah," Ezra responded. "Are you nervous?" he asked.

Aria nodded again as she took an intake of breath.

Ezra took his eyes off the road for a moment to give her a comforting smile. "It'll be ok, whatever the outcome is," he promised.

Aria gave him a weary smile back before leaning across the console to place a kiss on Ezra's cheek. She leaned her head on his arm as Ezra quickly kissed the top of her head before continuing to drive.

LB

After Ezra dropped Aria off at work he returned to his home, for the most part lounging around the house. Eventually his publisher would probably expect another book from him, but his last book was still pretty popular so the royalties from that would give him some time.

Finally it reached 3:30 which was close enough that Ezra figured he could leave. Aria's day ended at four which gave him plenty of time to get there.

Ezra parked in front of the company like usual and soon saw Aria and Hanna making their way down the steps of the building. Aria gave Hanna a quick wave as they each went to their respective cars.

"Hey," Ezra smiled as Aria sat down.

Aria smiled back, but Ezra could definitely tell she was on edge. He turned to face her and kissed her as he rested his hand on the side of her face. "It's going to be fine," he said.

"Thank you for everything," Aria put her hand on top of Ezra's that still resided on her face. "For making this appointment and going with me and saying everything is going to be fine," she explained.

"Of course," he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

LB

After Ezra checked Aria in, the two of them went to go sit in the waiting room. The room smelled like a hospital the barren white walls making it feel even more medical. Aria's knee continually bounced as her finger's tapped along the wooden arm of the chair she was in. Ezra looked around at all the other people in the room some completely neutral others showing the same panicky expression that Aria was sporting herself.

"Aria Montgomery?"

Ezra looked up to see a tall nurse with dark black hair calling Aria's name. Ezra took Aria's hand as the two of them followed the nurse to one of the rooms.

"So I understand you wanted to do an infertility test today?" the nurse asked.

Aria nodded and bit her lip as the woman wrote down some notes her papers.

"Ok well the doctor will be in shortly to do some blood tests," she explained. She gave Aria and Ezra comforting smile before retreating through the door.

Aria looked over at Ezra her eyes glassy and her bottom lip trembling slightly. Ezra immediately walked over to her and enveloped her in his grasp as he continually pressed kisses to the top of her head. He knew this next hour would be a defining moment in their relationship but either way he knew he only wanted Aria.

Aria pressed her face into Ezra's chest while he dragged his hand up and down her back as he whispered sweet nothing's to her.

Soon the pair heard the door to their room open as an older woman with a white coat on stepped in. She greeted Aria and Ezra before explaining she was just going to take some blood and then they would have to run some tests on it. The procedure was pretty quick, but unfortunately they would have to wait a little while for the tests to be finished with.

Aria and Ezra walked back out to the lobby and sat down as they awaited the results that could potentially change their lives. Ezra knew Aria would be heartbroken if she couldn't have kids so as he sat there with her he silently hoped , that wouldn't be the case.

"Aria?"

Ezra and Aria both looked up to see Mike walking towards them. He looked drained and the coffee cup in his hand suggested he felt it.

"You heard?" he murmured.

"Heard what?" Aria asked. She looked to Ezra who had the same confused look on her face.

"About dad?" Mike gave her a look like it should have been obvious what he was talking about.

Aria shook her head and scrunched her eyebrows together still unsure what Mike was referring to.

"Aria, dad was in a car accident," Mike explained.

"What?" Aria breathed.

"Yeah," Mike nodded. "This morning."

Aria unsteadily inhaled as she realized that was probably the crash that she and Ezra had saw earlier that day. "Is he ok?"

"They had to put him in a coma, but they said it's still possible for him to make a full recovery."

Ezra placed his hand on Aria's back as her eyes began to fill with tears at this new knowledge. Even though her and her father hadn't always gotten along she still cared about him. The fact that today she had decided to let go of all their negative history made it even harder. Aria turned her head towards Ezra and rested it against his shoulder as a few stray tears escaped her eyes. Ezra wrapped both of his arms around his girlfriend as Mike placed a hand on her sister's back.

"Aria?" Mike asked.

Aria removed her head from Ezra's shirt as she looked up at him.

"If I hadn't punched Ezra I knew Dad would have, and I thought better I do it then him," Mike explained. He didn't want there to be any bad blood between them especially when they had finally reconnected after so long.

Aria nodded and stood up to pull him into a hug. She knew Mike would never do anything to intentionally hurt her which is why it had surprised her so much when he had did that. Mike immediately reciprocated the hug as he held his sister tightly.

"Do you want to come see him?" Mike asked. He pointed his thumb down the hall indicating that's where his room was.

"I can come get you if they call you," Ezra offered. Aria looked back at him and nodded before kissing him.

"Thank you," she whispered against his lips.

Ezra smiled at her and wiped away a couple of tears on her cheek before she left.

Aria walked with Mike through the white tiled halls her heart rate speeding up with every step she took. The door was closed to her father's room so luckily she had a couple moments to gather herself together.

Mike quietly opened the door and stepped in to which Aria did the same. She saw her mother asleep on one of the chairs in the room and her father lying in the hospital bed. He honestly looked better than she expected, but he still had his arm in a cast and cuts all across his face and body.

Aria tentatively stepped closer to the side of his bed not wanting to wake her mother up. She lightly placed her hand on Byron's arm and moved her thumb back and forth. In that moment she really didn't care about all the hell he and her mother had put her through, only if he would be ok. If he got better maybe they could salvage their relationship and start over. Even though he and Ella weren't the best of parents Aria did have some good memories with them and they were still her parents.

A soft knock at the door sounded to which Mike opened it to reveal Ezra.

"They're ready," he said. Aria nodded and turned back to her father placing a quick kiss on the top of his head. She silently waved to Mike too before following Ezra out of the room.

Ezra instantly extended his hand to her to which Aria graciously took. The pair walked back like that, following the nurse into the room that they had been in previously.

Aria went to sit on the large chair in the middle while Ezra sat on one right next to it. Ezra placed his hand on Aria's knee as the nurse scanned the papers in front of her.

The nurse made a few quick notes with a pen before turning to look at the awaiting couple.

"We went through some tests and there's really no easy way to say this," she began. "but, while it wouldn't be impossible for you two to conceive the chances are almost none," the nurse explained. "I'm extremely sorry."

Ezra let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he felt his stomach drop. He knew if he looked at Aria he would fall apart, but he was unable to stop himself.

His heart nearly broke at the sight of Aria as tears streamed down her face. It was the kind of crying where she wasn't making any noise, her eyes showing how distraught she was.

"I'll leave you two alone for a little bit and then we can talk about other options," the nurse suggested. Ezra nodded as he stood up before the nurse quietly exited the room.

A pained expression crossed Ezra's face as he went to stand in front of Aria. He pulled her into his chest as her sobs became slightly louder. He felt Aria tightly grip his shirt as she continued to cry into it.

Ezra felt his own composure slipping with every shaky breath she took or soft whimper that was made. He embraced her tighter as he told her it would be ok.

"It won't Ezra," she said into his chest. "She said the chances were almost at zero," she murmured as another sob escaped her throat.

"We could adopt," Ezra said. He lightly moved his hand through Aria's hair as he tried to attempt to calm her down.

"It won't be the same," she whispered.

Ezra almost felt like crying himself at how upset Aria was. He understood where she coming from with the adoption thing, nothing would ever be like creating something that was your own flesh and blood.

"Did you want kids?" she asked. Her voice was strained from the crying and muffled since her face was still buried in his shirt.

"I did," Ezra admitted. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

"Do you still want to be with me?" she whimpered.

Ezra pulled back from Aria and lifted her face to look at him. "Yes," he stated. "The only way I would want kids is if you're their mother."

Aria gave him an unsure look, but smiled slightly when Ezra put 3 fingers up as if he were a boy scout.

"Boy scout's honor," he smiled.

Aria shook her head lightly, as she laughed softly.

Ezra pressed a kiss to her forehead, glad that he could make her happy even if it was only for a second.

"We'll be ok Aria," he whispered into her hair. "I promise."

**So I'm not sure if this was terrible or not haha, because I feel like it wasn't my best writing. Please tell me your feedback though!**

**Also I'm not totally sure when the next update will be because I have mid terms next week and I got sick again :( If I get more than 25 reviews though I might sacrifice some studying haha **


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much for the reviews!**

Aria breathed deeply as she moved her head back from Ezra's chest attempting to somewhat regain her composure. Her hands still gripped the fabric of Ezra's shirt as another ragged breath swept through her. Ezra curled a piece of her dark brown locks behind her ear, softly pressing his lips against her forehead.

Aria looked up at him from under her wet lashes, the corners of her lips rising the slightest into a weary smile. She stood up from the patient chair she had been sitting and rose on her toes so she could lightly kiss his cheek. She then rested her head in the crook of Ezra's neck encircling her arms around his torso.

Once Aria's whimpers began to calm down, the sharp ticking of the clock on the wall became the only noise in the room. It made Aria feel uncomfortable as she wanted to get out of the "hospital" setting as fast as possible. The bright blue walls lined with posters of pregnant women only reminded her of the news she had just received.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, alerting them of the nurse's return. Ezra called out a soft "come in" which was followed by the nurse stepping into the room, her hand full of pamphlets.

The nurse gave Aria and Ezra a discussion on the surplus of fertility treatments there were as well as other options such as surrogacy or adoption. The talk was met with more tears from Aria, causing Ezra's hand to never leave the small of her back. Obviously, the two didn't need to decide anything right now so they were soon able to leave with the brochures in hand.

"Are you going to be ok?" Ezra softly asked as he draped his arm around her small shoulders.

Aria half-heartedly nodded before leaning against him as they continued to walk through the white tiled halls.

"Can we go say goodbye to Mike?" As they came to the intersection separating the wings of the hospital Aria pointed her finger down the one she knew her father was in.

"Of course," Ezra nodded.

Still wrapped around one another, the pair made their way to Byron's room, softly knocking on the dark brown door before entering.

Aria was surprised to see that Ella was still asleep, but she figured the prospect of her husband possibly dying had kept her up for quite some time. Mike silently waved from the chair he had been sitting in before getting up to greet the two of them.

"Hey," he weakly smiled. He saw Aria's tear stained cheeks and pulled her into a hug not even bothering to ask any questions. If she wanted to tell him she would, but still he could see how upset she was in her eyes.

"We were going to head out and just wanted to say goodbye," Aria explained.

Mike nodded and went to give Ezra a handshake, not sure a hug would be best since less than 24 hours ago he had punched him in the face. Ezra gave him a smile to say all was forgiven before looking over to Byron's motionless body.

While Aria gave Mike Ezra's house number and Mike gave her his cell, Ezra stepped slightly closer to Byron inspecting the abundance of injuries he had. Ezra couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit guilty that the last interaction this man had with his daughter was a horrible one, all because of him. If he had lied like any other human being, none of the drama that had happened would have.

"Ezra," Aria said. He looked over to Aria who was motioning for them to go. Ezra nodded, stealing one last look at Byron before giving Mike a quick wave. Mike bowed his head in acknowledgement before the two of them disappeared down the hall.

"I have Mike's number, so now we can keep in touch," Aria told Ezra. He could see her eyes brighten up slightly at the mention of this new knowledge.

"That's great," he smiled. He reached between them and attached their hands before pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

The couple walked out of the hospital lobby and into the connecting garage before Aria stopped them. She turned to face Ezra and grabbed his other hand as she looked up into his eyes.

"I just want to thank you again, for everything you've done for me," Aria murmured. "I know I was a mess in there," she softly laughed, "but it means a lot that you were there for me."

"I love you," Ezra whispered in her ear as he leaned his cheek against the top of her head. Aria smiled and squeezed his hands in response to his statement.

"I was thinking though," Aria pulled back from their embrace a grin spreading across her cheeks.

Ezra cocked his head to the side finding himself smiling as he looked at Aria.

"I know there will be other options for us when the time comes, but for now I think we should take advantage of the fact that we can have sex with no protection," she smiled.

Ezra laughed lightly and shook his head as he pulled Aria closer. "You sure changed emotions fast."

"Well with everything going on with my dad, I was just thinking that life's really short and I shouldn't spend it moping around," she explained.

"I think you have every right to mope around considering you're life," Ezra said, "but that was a very good observation you made," he grinned.

Aria bit her lip and grasped Ezra's hand, pulling him to his car. Ezra immediately understanding what she was doing reached into his pocket for his keys and unlocked the doors. Ezra's judgment was obviously impaired as he followed Aria into the back seat of his car. A small voice in the back of his head was asking him what in the world he was thinking, but Ezra was able to block that out as he shut the door to his car.

Aria leaned back on the tan leather seats so she was lying down as Ezra placed his knees on either sides of her legs. He moved his face closer to hers before his lips finally met hers. Aria smiled into the kiss as she placed her hands on the back of his neck, effectively making the kiss harder.

Ezra pulled back for a minute as his hand went to Aria's shirt quickly unfastening each button. Finally reaching the end of the blouse he pushed the fabric off her shoulders leaving her in just her bra. Aria reached up to the hem of Ezra's shirt as she pulled that over his head and threw it somewhere in the car to be found later. She dragged her hands down his rock hard chest her nails leaving goose bumps on Ezra's skin.

Aria trailed her hand over Ezra's belt buckle, soon going lower. Ezra closed his eyes and swallowed tightly while Aria just smiled at his reaction. She could feel him becoming hard under her hand as well as see it pretty clearly.

Ezra opened his eyes and bent down to Aria's level attaching his lips to the side of her neck. Aria made a breathy noise as Ezra began to suck at the sensitive flesh and lightly scrape his teeth along it. He dragged his lips across her collarbone and down the valley of her breasts eliciting a moan from Aria's throat. Ezra brought his hand to Aria's side and slowly slid it up her abdomen until he reached her bra. He slipped a finger under the wire of the lacy fabric, swiping it across Aria's breast.

"Ezra," she whispered. She lightly gripped his hair between her fingers as he continued to pleasure her.

A loud tap at the window startled them both causing them to practically jump apart.

A woman who looked to be about in her 50's was staring at them, disgust written all over her face. She shook her head, her glare practically burning through the window of the car.

Aria could feel her face turning as bright red as a tomato as she quickly shuffled around the floor of the car for her shirt. Ezra awkwardly raised his hand as a sort of apology before the woman gave another huff and climbed into her car, which was right next to Ezra's.

Ezra chuckled lightly at Aria who was completely flustered and still frantically searching for her shirt.

"Ezra, where the hell did you put this thing," she mumbled as she looked over the passenger seat.

"Aria relax," he laughed. "And it's right here," he grabbed Aria's shirt from the area on the back windshield where he had put it earlier.

"Why are you so calm?" she asked incredulously, before redressing herself.

"Because we are never going to see that woman again," Ezra reminded her. He moved closer to Aria resting his hand on her cheek, "And you are absolutely adorable when you're embarrassed."

Aria playfully rolled her eyes before pressing a kiss to Ezra's lips.

"Want to go home and finish what we started?" Ezra mumbled against her mouth.

"Yes," she laughed.

LB

**3 days later**

A shrill ringing throughout Ezra's apartment alerted him of his phone, causing him to reluctantly get up from his couch he had been sitting on. He walked over to the wall it was perched on before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Ezra, hey it's Mike. Is Aria there?"

Ezra could tell something was clearly wrong by the way Mike voice was slightly sore and how it had cracked at the end.

"She's in the shower, can I take a message?" Ezra asked.

He heard Mike breathe in heavily before swallowing. "Byron's dead," he stated. "The funeral's in two days."

"What?" Ezra ran a hand through his hair as he leaned against his counter.

"Can you tell Aria please?" Mike asked, his voice starting to shake.

"Of course," Ezra assured him.

"I'll call with more details on the funeral and stuff later I just wanted to tell Aria as soon as possible."

"Ok," Ezra nodded. He hung up the phone and sighed. Aria had finally started to get over the fertility issues and was on the road to fixing her relationship with her parents. He knew this would destroy her especially since she had just recently decided to forgive her father for what he had done.

He heard the water to the shower shut off making his stomach drop. He knew she would be out soon and that meant he would have to tell her. He didn't even know how to say it. Should he just come right out and tell her or maybe hint at it until she figured it out?

Ezra found himself pacing his kitchen as he tried to formulate the right words in his head. Every time he thought he had a good idea, he would convince himself that was the worst way to tell her ever.

"Ezra?" Aria walked into the living room soon spotting him in the kitchen.

Ezra could feel his heart speeding up with every step that she took closer to him. He must have lost track of time as he was thinking because he definitely wasn't expecting her this early.

"You okay?" she asked. She took in Ezra's panicky expression quickly becoming worried herself.

"There's something I have to tell you," Ezra murmured. He took ahold of both of her hands running his thumbs across the bridge of her knuckles.

"Ok," Aria nodded. She bit her lip in anticipation and felt her blood pressure rising with every second Ezra took to not tell her whatever it was he had to say.

"Mike called while you were in the shower," Ezra began.

Aria nodded again encouraging Ezra to continue.

"Aria," Ezra whispered. "Byron passed away."

Aria furrowed her eyebrows slightly shaking her head. "No," she murmured as she took a step back.

"Aria I'm sorry," Ezra stressed. He could see Aria's eyes welling up with tears making him regret telling her so bluntly.

"The last time I talked to him was at Rockefeller center," Aria whimpered. "I hated him in that moment and I'll never be able to apologize." Aria looked at the floor a few tears hitting the dark brown wood.

"I think he would understand," Ezra said. He stepped slightly closer to Aria not sure if she wanted his comfort at the moment.

"I'll never know though will I?" Aria took in a shaky breath before stepping towards Ezra. She rested her head on Ezra's chest just enjoying the warmth that he provided. Ezra ran his hand down the length of her hair and the top of her back before leading her to the couch.

Ezra sat down, pulling Aria onto his lap. She immediately curled into his chest as Ezra tightened his arms around her. He could feel her hot tears against his neck as her small hand rested right where his heart would be.

Aria continued to cry for quite some time, but soon her breathing evened out. Ezra looked down and saw she was asleep, figuring all the crying had probably made her really tired.

Ezra wrapped one of his arms around her torso and the other under her leg, lifting her up. He placed her down on his couch before grabbing one of his many blankets. He draped the wool square across her body, tucking it under her sides so she wouldn't get cold. He moved her hair from out of her face where it had fallen previously before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I love you Aria," he whispered against her skin.

LB

Aria smoothed down the fabric of her dress as she took one last look in the mirror. She hated that black was worn to funerals since it was such a depressing color already and scowled at the outfit she was wearing.

"You ready?" Ezra asked as he went to stand behind her in the mirror.

Aria nodded, turning to face Ezra. He extended her hand for her to grab, which she did before the two of them walked out of the apartment.

Byron's funeral was being held in a church right outside of the city which Aria remembered going to as a child. Aria recognized all her relatives and the many friends her parents had from when she was younger. She got a lot of incredulous looks from the many guests, many of whom hadn't seen or heard of her in 3 years.

Luckily Ezra stayed attached to her hip the entire time even through the many awkward encounters with her family members that had agreed with her parent's decision to kick her out.

Finally Aria spotted her mother and Mike who were receiving hugs from a whole group of people. Ella soon saw Aria and Ezra as well, and excused herself to go walk over to them.

"Hi," Ella whispered as she lightly hugged Aria.

Ella looked to Ezra and gave him an appreciative smile as he murmured his apologies for her loss.

"Did you see who was here?" Ella asked Aria.

Aria shook her head signifying she wasn't sure who she was talking about. Ella pointed to a guy in the far corner who was checking something on his phone.

"W-What is he doing here?" Aria asked as she looked back to Ella.

"He heard about your father and I think he wanted to make sure you were ok," Ella explained as if it should have been obvious.

Ezra could see Aria was extremely anxious as she looked between the mystery guy and her mother.

"I haven't seen him since…" Aria trailed off.

"I know," Ella nodded. "I think you should go say hi though," she proposed.

Aria bit her lip and looked back at the man before her mother explained she had to get back to her brother and the other guests.

Ezra who had been silent this whole time placed his hand on Aria's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Aria shook her head, "Not really."

"Who is that?" Ezra asked.

"He was my boyfriend in high school," Aria explained. "And the father of my baby."

**Sorry this is so short guys, I had a really sucky night yesterday when I wrote most of it and I'm still kind of down. I plan on updating much sooner though because my exams are finally over. **

**Please review though or tweet me (proudofhale) and it would make me feel much better. Even if you don't follow me I would really appreciate it. If i get enough i'll update within the next few days.**

**Also, I know some of you don't have fanfiction accounts, but twitters and I'm not sure if you guys want me to mention you when I update. I haven't done it before because I didn't want to annoy anyone, but if you want an alert just tell me and I will put you on a list!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi guys, sorry for the wait but I wasn't really motivated to write. I didn't get as many reviews as I usually do and I'm not sure if you guys like where I'm going with this story anymore. I know a lot of people read it that don't review, but even just a "nice job" truly means a lot. I think it's hard to put your own writing out there and it's kind of disheartening when no one responds to it. I'll gladly take constructive criticism to; I just want to know what you guys think.**

**Also, for those wondering, Aria was able to get pregnant before because it's not impossible for her, just extremely difficult. **

**Anyways sorry for the long a/n, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

_The father of my baby._

Those 5 words continued to replay in Ezra's head as him and Aria watched the guy in the corner. Ezra could feel a slight pang of jealously in his chest knowing that this man had once been so intimate with the girl he felt was the love of his life.

He saw Aria nervously shift on her feet her eyes locked on the other side of room.

"Are you gonna go say hi?" Ezra asked. A part of him hoped she would say no, and he wouldn't have to deal with the threat of an ex-boyfriend, but he also knew that was unfair of him to want.

Aria shrugged, "He did come all the way here," she figured.

Ezra swallowed and nodded forcing a soft smile. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Aria opened her mouth and closed it before responding, "I don't want to scare him off by introducing my boyfriend right away," Aria explained.

"Of course," Ezra nodded.

Aria raised the corners of her lips up slightly before giving Ezra's hand that she had been holding a squeeze. She took in a dep breath before detaching herself from Ezra and making her way over to her ex-boyfriend.

Ezra closely watched their interaction tensing slightly when they greeted each other with a hug. He knew it was stupid of him to be jealous when there was obviously nothing going on between the too, but he couldn't help himself.

He looked down at the floor running his shoe along a line on the wood not wanting to be caught staring at Aria and the still nameless man. Aria's laughter echoing throughout the church caused him to quickly snap his head back up though. He saw Aria's head thrown back her smile spread wide while the guy's hand rested on her shoulder.

He honestly didn't know how much more he could take especially when it looked like they were getting along so well.

Aria turned to face Ezra and waved her hand signaling for her to come over. Ezra immediately walked over there perhaps too fast, but neither Aria nor her ex seemed to notice.

"Ezra this is Matt," Aria gestured to the man in front of them, "And Matt this is Ezra."

Matt held out his hand which Ezra reluctantly shook as he plastered a fake smile on his face.

"I'm guessing you're the boyfriend?" Matt asked.

Ezra nodded as he placed his arm around Aria's shoulder.

"Well I'm sure Aria has told you our connection," Matt looked between him and Aria and almost nostalgic look on his face.

"She has," Ezra said.

Aria slipped her behind Ezra's back slowly running her fingers against his shirt. She could tell he was feeling vulnerable next to Matt and hoped this would relax him a little bit.

Ella's voice rang throughout the small room alerting everyone they were going to begin. The pall bearers began to arrange themselves as the rest of the guests walked into the main part of the church to take their seats.

"Do you want to come sit with us?" Aria asked Matt.

Matt gave her an appreciative smile and nodded as the three made their way to one of the front pews.

Ezra slid into the wooden benches first followed by Aria and then Matt. Ezra would have much rather him been in between the two, but he knew better than to say anything especially at such an emotional time for everyone.

Soon a soft melody began to play as everyone rose in their seats. Ezra watched as Byron's casket was carried down the aisle as he heard Aria's soft whimpers. He placed a comforting hand on her back which he felt her lean in too as she wiped her eyes.

Everyone resumed sitting as the ceremony officially began as the music became softer and softer.

Ezra looked over to Aria his heart breaking at the sight of the many tears streaming down her face. She took in a shaky breath and bit her lip and she continued to stare straight ahead. Ezra was about to grasp her hand but instantly stopped when he saw Matt had already placed a comforting hand on her back.

Ezra could feel his jealously rising exponentially, practically losing it when Matt moved his hand up and down and told her it would be ok. Even though Aria and Matt were once close, he was the boyfriend and that should be him consoling her.

Ezra saw Aria mouth Matt a "thank you" before curling her hair behind her ears and wiping her face once more.

LB

Soon the ceremony was over and the guests filed out of the church to get into their respective cars and drive to the cemetery for the burial. Luckily for Ezra, Matt took his own car so him and Aria were able to have some alone time.

"You ok?" Ezra asked. He glanced away from the road for a second to give Aria a small smile.

"I will be," Aria sighed. She moved closer to Ezra in her seat and lightly leaned her head against his shoulder. Ezra's heart swelled at the gesture and suddenly he felt silly for ever thinking that Matt would be a problem.

"I love you Aria," Ezra said. He felt somewhat childish but he felt like if he heard Aria say those three words back everything would be ok.

"I love you too Ezra," Aria murmured. She snuggled closer into his arm, closing her eyes for a moment.

Ezra continued to drive, reveling in the feeling of Aria's small body curled up to him, the sound of her soft breaths filling the car. It was times like this when it was just the two of them that he appreciated the most. He was glad she found comfort in him and only hoped that it would always stay that way.

Not too long after they arrived at the cemetery and Ezra parked his car along with everyone else's. As expected Matt met them near the casket as the rest of the guests gathered around too.

This service was much shorter than the one in the church since it was winter and Ella hadn't wanted everyone to get too cold. A few family members said some words about Byron before everyone took a few minutes of silence that could be spent how they liked. Many of the guests said there last goodbyes as did Aria, Mike and Ella as they stood in front of the wooden coffin.

Ella mumbled a teary "I love you" as Mike and Aria both whispered goodbyes to their father. Aria turned away first and went to stand by Ezra and Matt and was soon followed by Mike and then Ella. Ella had planned for everyone to come to her house after the funeral, so everyone again went to their own cars to drive there.

Ezra opened Aria's door for her before quickly walking back to the driver's side. He looked to Aria's tear stained face and pulled her close to him over the console. Aria relaxed into his arms as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Her breaths were shallow as more sobs ripped through her, Ezra's hand never leaving the back of her head.

Eventually her cries subsided as Aria pulled back from their embrace. Ezra ran the back of his hand along the back of her cheek getting rid of the tears that had pooled there.

"Thank you," Aria murmured. Ezra nodded and gave her a soft smile before turning to start the car.

"Do you think it will be weird to go back to your old house?" Ezra asked as a few minutes later, trying to start up some conversation that would take her mind off everything going on.

Aria shrugged, "I suppose. I mean I haven't been there since they kicked me out," she figured.

Ezra glanced over at her and put a hand on her thigh running his thumb along her skin. Aria smiled and placed her hand on top of his as she leaned back and looked out the window.

Ella's and Byron's house wasn't too far away so Aria and Ezra soon arrived along with the many other guests. Ezra stepped out of the car and attached his hand with Aria's as the two of them walked into the house.

Ezra felt himself holding Aria's hand slightly tighter as they saw Matt approaching them, but released his firm grasp once he reminded himself he had nothing to worry about.

"Hey," Matt gave them a soft smile. "Are you ok?" Matt asked Aria.

"Yeah," Aria nodded. Matt placed his hand on Aria's shoulder before hugging her ignoring the fact that Ezra was still holding hands with her. Aria slid her hand out from Ezra's so she could wrap her arms around Matt causing Ezra to tense.

"From what I remember all those years ago Byron really loved you," Matt whispered.

Ezra ran a hand through his hair as he inhaled sharply. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself he knew deep down that there was a possibility of Matt coming between him and Aria. Matt had known Aria almost her whole life and had even shared a child with her.

"Excuse me," Ezra mumbled. He walked away from Matt and Aria over to one of the food tables, just needing to get away from those two.

Ezra picked up a glass of water quickly downing it, before he heard Aria calling his name.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked as she walked over to where he was. Luckily Matt hadn't followed her over here so it was just the two of them in this corner of the house.

"Nothing," Ezra shook his head. He tapped his finger on the plastic cup he was holding as he glanced up to where Matt was talking with another guest.

Aria followed Ezra's eyes immediately seeing what he was looking at. "Ezra," she gave him a look that said he was crazy for thinking what she assumed he was. "Matt's not a threat."

Ezra sighed and looked at the floor before looking back up at Aria. "He is to me."

Aria lightly shook her head trying to convey to Ezra that he really wasn't.

"Aria you two have history that me and you will never have," Ezra stressed. "And you shared a child. I can't compete with that."

"Ezra no one's asking you to."

Aria stepped closer to Ezra and grasped his hand before leading him to a more secluded area that wasn't flooded with her relatives and family friends.

"You two even look like a couple," Ezra sighed.

Aria cocked her head to the side, "Why are we having this conversation?" Aria asked. "I am already in love with someone else," she said giving Ezra a soft smile.

Ezra shook his head, "I'm sorry," he said. "Just the fact that you two shared such as special of a bond as a child, it makes me wonder."

Aria placed her hand on the side of Ezra's face and lightly ran her thumb along Ezra's cheek to which he leaned into. "There will always be a part of my heart that holds a place for Matt and what we shared, but I'm not _in_ love with him the way I am with you."

Ezra put his hand on top of Aria's and lightly grasped it before kissing her knuckles. Aria ran her thumb across Ezra's lips stepping closer and pressing her mouth to his.

"I love you," she murmured against his lips. Aria wrapped her arms around Ezra's neck lightly pulling at the baby hairs at the base of his head.

Ezra sighed into the kiss as he rested his hands on either side of Aria's hips. He felt stupid for ever doubting their relationship but he had to admit Aria's declaration made him feel much better.

Eventually the two reluctantly pulled apart and immersed themselves back into the gathering, talking to few relatives here and there. They didn't really run into Matt for the rest of the night, much to Ezra's preference.

As it neared later and later in the day most of the guests had left except for Aria and Ezra, Matt, and two of Aria's aunts.

"Hey Aria," Mike said as he walked over to where her and Ezra were standing.

"Hi," she smiled before hugging Mike.

"Mom wants to know if you want to stay over tonight." Mike asked. "Like old times," he explained.

Aria looked up at Ezra not wanting to be without him tonight especially after how emotional of a day it had been.

"She said Ezra can stay with you in your room too," Mike softly laughed.

Aria playfully rolled her eyes at her brother before nodding her head in agreement.

"I'll go tell mom," Mike told her before walking off to the kitchen where Ella was talking with Byron's two sisters.

"Want to see my room?" Aria chuckled.

"I would love to," Ezra stressed. Aria bit her lip and grinned before taking Ezra's hand and leading him up the flight of stairs to the hallway her room resided in.

Aria wasn't really sure what to expect when she opened her door as she wasn't sure if her parents would have gotten rid of all of her stuff or made it into a new room.

She was surprised to find everything exactly the same almost as if her room hadn't been touched in the three years she had been gone. Her room wasn't dirty though so she figured her mother still cleaned it regularly.

"I can see you liked to read," Ezra smiled as he scanned the plethora of books lining every inch of her room.

"I told you," Aria laughed as she went to sit on her bed. "It feels like I never left," she murmured as she traced a line of fabric on her bedspread.

"Do you miss it?" Ezra asked as he went to sit on Aria's bed as well.

"A little," Aria said, "But I'd much rather be with you," she smiled.

Ezra curled a piece of Aria's hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. "I'd much rather you be with me too."

LB

Ezra leaned back in Aria's bed and looked around the room as he waited for her to come back. She had gone to brush her teeth and get ready for bed before they were going to go to sleep.

Ezra smiled at the pictures of Aria when she was younger and traced the frame of one that sat on her bedside table.

His thoughts were interrupted though as he heard footsteps outside of Aria's door. He expected it to be Aria of course but was surprised when he saw it was Matt instead.

"Is Aria here," Matt asked as he looked around her room.

"No," Ezra shook his head. "She's just in the bathroom getting ready.

"Oh well, I'm heading out so can you tell her I said goodbye?"

"Of course," Ezra agreed. He sat up in the bed nodding his head.

Matt turned to walk away but stopped before turning back to face Ezra.

"This isn't over," Matt stated.

Ezra furrowed his eyebrows as he stood up. "What are you talking about?"

"Aria was supposed to be with me," Matt said. "I looked for her everywhere when she left and now that I found her I'm not going to let you take her away again."

"Aria doesn't want to be with you," Ezra countered as he took a step closer to Matt.

"We'll see," Matt shrugged.

Ezra felt his jaw tense at Matt's words and watched him as he turned to walk away.

Aria came back moments later completely oblivious to what had just happened. Ezra just smiled at her and pulled her back to her bed and tight against his chest.

"Good night Ezra," Aria whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too," Ezra murmured against her ear. He wrapped his arms around her torso and pressed a kiss to the back of her head before closing his eyes.

**I hope you guys liked this and PLEASE PLEASE review! Even if you tweet me those disappear, but reviews don't. it would mean the world to me if you guys got me to 300 and I'll update again when I do!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I am so so so so so so so so so sorry for the wait, especially since I promised I would update soon. I'd understand if you were all mad at me haha. THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reviews though, 315 is crazy! **

**Hope you enjoy this :)**

Ezra stared up at the ceiling of Aria's bedroom, his eyes following the long panels of wood that lined it. He had spent the majority of the night contemplating whether or not he should tell Aria about the conversation he and Matt had and as a result had gotten almost no sleep. He looked down at Aria who was cuddled into his chest, her soft breaths the only sound audible so early in the morning. He took some comfort in the fact that it was _him_ in Aria's bed and _him_ with his arms wrapped around instead of Matt who wasn't even here. He sighed and sat up slightly trying not to jostle the bed too much so he wouldn't be staring at the same view he had been for the past hour.

The corners of his mouth rose up the slightest as his gaze panned across Aria's room. His eyes landed on a small pig puppet that Ezra remembered Aria telling him she was attached to as a child. His heart also swelled at the multitude of sketches that lined her walls, amazed at her artistic ability. Aria was right last night, her room looked like it hadn't been touched in 3 years and was exactly how it would have been if she had continued living there. Ezra liked seeing this part of her life when she was a carefree teenager and didn't have to deal with all the obstacles she later would have to.

"Why are you up?" Aria's voice was soft and still thick with sleep as she squinted her eyes and moved her head to look at Ezra.

"I didn't mean to wake you," Ezra murmured as he brushed a lock of hair away from Aria's face.

"You didn't," she shook her head. "I've been kind of restless all night," she admitted.

Ezra nodded his head and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he pulled Aria's small body closer to his chest. The one thing he liked about Aria's bed was that it was much smaller, therefore forcing them to be tighter against one another.

"You didn't answer my question," Aria mumbled against Ezra's chest, her lips tickling his bare skin.

Ezra opened his mouth and closed hoping Aria would have forgotten and he could have avoided telling her what was on his mind.

"I can tell something is bothering you," Aria said. She lifted her head and rested her chin on Ezra's pectoral muscle so he would have to look into her eyes.

"It's nothing," Ezra shook his head, dismissing her concern.

"If you don't tell me I'll only assume the worst," Aria explained. She gave Ezra an encouraging smile, urging him to continue with whatever it was that had kept him up.

Ezra ran a hand through his jet black hair before sighing and resting it on Aria's back. He figured he could tell her part of the story without divulging everything.

"I was thinking about you and Matt, nothing more," Ezra shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was no big deal.

"Ezra," Aria worried her lips in between her teeth as she sat up on her bed. "Now I know what you felt like when I wouldn't believe you loved me," Aria shook her head lightly laughing.

Aria moved on her knees until she was right next to Ezra cradling his face in between her two hands. "I love you and Matt is not going to come between us," Aria stressed. She moved her thumb across Ezra's cheek before pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "Please believe me," she whispered against his mouth, "Please."

Ezra's heart ached at Aria's words especially when she didn't know that Matt could actually come between them since that was what he was set on doing. He decided he would agree with her now though so as not to raise too much suspicion until he could figure out what to do about her ex.

"Ok," he murmured back. He brought his hands up to rest on top of hers leaning into her palms still resting on his face.

Aria gave him a soft smile before lightly kissing his forehead and lying back down. "I don't know about you but I'm going back to sleep," she laughed quietly.

"Sleep sounds good," Ezra agreed. He pushed himself farther down the bed, pulling the covers closer to him and Aria. After being up for most of the night going back to sleep for a few hours sounded like heaven to him. He turned to face Aria once they were situated, resting his hand on the top of her hip bone. Aria scooted herself closer to his chest inhaling his intoxicating scent. Her face was buried in his abdomen with one of her arms wrapped around him as well. Ezra heard her sigh in contentment as she closed her eyes, eventually falling asleep.

Ezra on the other hand was not so lucky and as many times as he shut his eyes and tried to sleep, he couldn't. His mind was still racing from his discussion with Matt and now to add to that he had in a way lied to Aria. He knew that if he told her it would only cause problems but he still felt terrible about having to do it.

Ezra soon decided there was no hope of him getting anymore sleep and cautiously slipped out of Aria's bed attempting not to wake her. Since it was so early he assumed no one would be downstairs yet and it would be a safe place for him to just think. He quietly opened Aria's door and padded across the hallway to the top of the stairs.

He cringed internally at every squeak that was made as he walked down the stairs, thankful when he finally reached the bottom floor. He felt a little weird walking around especially since he hadn't ever been to Aria's house before, but thankfully, as he predicted he was alone.

Ezra ran a hand through his hair like he so often did and went to look out the window in the kitchen. He watched as cars drove by probably on their way to work as well as the occasional early morning jogger.

"Ezra?"

Ezra quickly spun around to see Ella at the foot of the stairs eyeing him curiously.

"I-I'm sorry," Ezra stuttered. "I couldn't sleep," he explained. He made a move to leave the kitchen and walk back up the stairs but Ella held her hand up.

"It's ok," she said giving him a weak smile. "I couldn't sleep either," Ella lightly shook her head as she walked to her pantry pulling some coffee grinds. She held up the bag to Ezra offering him some to which he shook his head and politely declined.

"Something on your mind," Ella asked as she bent down, rummaging through a cabinet for the coffee maker.

"Um not really," Ezra shrugged not wanting to go into detail with his girlfriend's mother.

Ella finally pulled out the white machine and placed it on the counter before turning to face Ezra. "I know Aria has probably told you a lot of things about me and I understand if you hate me," Ella said. "I know I wasn't the best parent and I can see that now."

Ezra looked down at the floor before looking back up at Ella not exactly sure how he should respond to that.

"You don't need to say anything," Ella assured him, "I just want you to know."

Ezra shook his head, "It's not that," he said, "I'm just trying to find the right words." Ezra cleared his throat and ran his hand through his hair once more before continuing. "I'll admit in the beginning I didn't have the fondest opinion about you or Byron, but Aria's able to move past that and so am I. In fact, me and her probably never would have met if not for you…," Ezra trailed off as he looked at a spot on the counter. He'd never thought about it like that, but if Aria hadn't been kicked out and hadn't become a prostitute there was a high chance none of this would have happened.

"Thank you," Ella murmured.

"For what?" Ezra cocked his head to the side not sure what she was referring to.

"You saved my daughter," Ella said. Her eyes became slightly glassy as she played with a piece of string from the dishtowel she was picked up. "I don't know where she would be right now if it wasn't for you and I honestly don't even know if she would have been alive."

Ezra could feel his heart aching watching Ella so vulnerable in front of him especially with the thought of what could have happened to Aria if he hadn't taken her in.

"I'd do it over again in an instant," he gave Ella a comforting smile to which she returned a teary one.

"Aria's really lucky to have you," Ella said.

"I'm really lucky to have her too," Ezra confessed.

Ella gave him another smile before wiping her eyes with her sleeves and turning towards her cabinet to grab a mug. She quickly composed herself and Ezra figured she probably wasn't used to opening herself up to people like that.

"And just so you know, I invited Matt over for breakfast, I'm not sure if you want to wake Aria up," Ella informed him.

Ezra instantly felt his stomach drop at Ella's words, suddenly dreading the day ahead. "He's coming over here?" Ezra clarified.

Ella nodded her head, "Before Aria left, me and his parents were really close and I still feel bad for breaking the two of them up all those years ago. That's not a problem is it?"

"Or course not," Ezra said feigning a smile.

"What's not a problem?" Aria asked. Ezra and Ella looked to the bottom of the stairs where Aria was descending.

"Matt is going to be joining us for breakfast. I talked to him about it last night," Ella told her. "I just remember how good of friends you two were and I thought it might be nice."

Aria looked to Ezra and gave him a look that said she knew he was freaking out but had absolutely nothing to worry about. She walked over to him and slid her arm around his torso, leaning her head against him. "What time is gonna get here?" she asked.

"About an hour," Ella said.

Aria nodded before grasping Ezra's hand and motioning her head to the stairs.

Ezra agreed and let Aria lead him to the second floor and then to her room.

"Are you going to be ok?" Aria asked as she sat down on her bed.

"As ok as I can be," Ezra replied. Aria playfully rolled her eyes at Ezra before falling back onto her mattress.

"I am so tired," she laughed.

Ezra felt a smile creeping across his face at her light hearted behavior, glad the mood was lifted.

"You should have slept longer," Ezra told her as he went to lie on her bed too.

"The bed was cold because you weren't here," Aria reasoned. Ezra pulled Aria close to him eliciting a giggle out of her. He buried his face in her hair basking in her scent for as long as he could until he would have to share her with Matt.

"So what were you and my mom talking about?" Aria asked.

Ezra looked down at Aria and brushed his thumb across her face remembering the conversation him and Ella had.

"She thanked me for taking you in and basically just apologized for everything I might have heard about her," Ezra said.

"And she was crying because of that?" Aria chuckled.

"I was almost in tears too!" Ezra laughed, "She mentioned how if we hadn't found each other there was a chance something really bad could've happened to you," he explained on a more serious note.

"You really did save me Ezra," Aria whispered.

"In a way you saved me too," he smiled. He lightly traced her lip with the pad of his thumb before brushing his lips against hers.

…

For Aria and Ezra the next hour was spent getting ready while Ella cooked the meal in preparation for Matt's arrival.

Soon Ezra heard the much anticipated doorbell and walked down the stairs with Aria as she went to get it.

"Matt, hi!" Aria greeted him as she opened up the front door. She heard Mike coming down from upstairs at that moment too as he gave Matt a quick wave.

Matt smiled at Aria and stepped into the Montgomery household before giving her a friendly hug. Ezra could have sworn it was longer than what was appropriate for an embrace between friends, but he had to remind himself not to get too crazy.

"Ezra," Matt stuck out his hand for Ezra to shake, giving him one of his sickly sweet smiles.

"Matt, glad you could make it," Ella called from the kitchen.

Aria gave Matt another smile as she led both him and Ezra to their kitchen table in the other room.

"Thank you for inviting me Mrs. Montgomery," Matt acknowledged her.

"Of course!" Ella waved her hand as if it was no big deal.

The next ten minutes were filled with small talk about the weather or what all of their plans for the summer were as they waited for Ella to finish the cooking. Soon the meal was done and served as the 5 of them sat together at kitchen table.

Nobody sat in Byron's seats and while there was still a sad air to the gathering, they were all able to focus on other things.

"So Ezra what do you do for a living?" Matt asked.

Aria could see Ezra's jaw tense even though Matt hadn't technically done anything yet. She placed her hand on his knee in an attempt to relax him and slowly moved her thumb across his leg.

"He's an author," Aria smiled as she looked up at him, proudness reflecting on her face.

"A published author," Ezra added. Aria bit her lip to keep from laughing at how ridiculous Ezra was being around Matt as she looked between the two males.

Unfortunately the rest of breakfast didn't go much better as Matt and Ezra continued to try and show the other one up with Aria attempting to play the mediator. The awkwardness was almost tangible every time one of them made a comment and it was a relief for everyone once the meal was finally over.

Aria Matt and Ezra all ended up moving to the living room while Mike went up to this room and Ella cleaned up from breakfast. Matt and Aria ended up striking a conversation about some girl they had both knew in high school that Matt had just recently visited. Ezra could tell Matt was bringing this up just to push his buttons as "history" was the one thing Ezra couldn't beat him at. Feeling like a third wheel Ezra walked into the kitchen and offered to help Ella with the dishes.

"Wait she's pregnant?" Aria asked incredulously.

Matt nodded, "And get this she's married to Jake," he laughed.

"No way," Aria widened her eyes before shaking her head in amazement.

Matt bit his lip and moved the slightest bit closer to Aria but since she was focused on something else she didn't seem to notice.

"I miss this," Matt suddenly blurted out.

Aria gave him a confused look urging him to elaborate.

"Us," he stated.

"Matt," Aria furrowed her eyebrows together giving him a look that said she couldn't.

"Look how much fun we were just having," he reasoned.

"I'm with Ezra now," Aria firmly said, "I love him."

"If I remember correctly you loved me too at one point."

"Loved," Aria stressed, "As in past tense."

"We were supposed to be together, it was supposed to be us," Matt swallowed and moved even closer to Aria on the couch they were sitting on.

"I've moved on Matt, you should too."

"I can't," he shook his head. He placed his hand on Aria's knee lightly squeezing it.

"Matt," Aria bit her lip as she warned him to move his hand.

Matt slid it the tiniest bit higher tightening his grip on her as Aria tried to move away.

"My mom and Ezra are in the next room over," Aria said her voice cracking slightly.

"Aria," he pleaded. "Give us a chance."

Aria could feel her breath speeding up and even though she knew she wasn't in any immediate danger with Ezra and Ella so close it brought back memories of her life living on the streets. She hadn't felt that sense of entrapment since she had met Ezra but this situation was starting to feel very much like that now.

Aria could feel tears starting to pool in her eyes as she thought back to all the times guys had been rough with her, some even throwing her to the ground once they had finished and paid her. Sometimes they didn't even pay her and threatened to do worse if she made a big deal out of it. She'd never told anyone, not even Ezra this but those nights still haunted her every day and she always had a fear of going back to that.

Suddenly though she felt Matt's hand leave her leg and looked up to see Ezra grabbing him by the collar. She hadn't even seen him come into the room and figured she must have to been too focused on her thoughts.

"Dude what the hell?" Matt tried to maneuver his way out of Ezra's grasp but was only met with a blow to the jaw. Matt fell to the floor in pain as he clutched his mouth groaning softly.

"I think you should go," Ezra stated. Ella and Mike who had heard the commotion stepped into the room as well gasps escaping their mouths as they saw Matt on the floor.

"You're going to regret this," Matt muttered at Aria as he slowly stood up. Still holding his face he grabbed his coat off the rack and slammed the door as he left.

Aria was still sitting on the couch as Ezra went to sit next to her instantly pulling her to his chest.

"It's ok," he whispered into her hair.

Aria breathed a sigh of relief being in Ezra's arms and had to keep reminding herself she was safe. She'd never really thought about it before but now she realized she probably had some sort of PTSD from all of her experiences in the past 3 years. She figured she had tried to bury them, this incident only bringing them to the surface. She grasped the back of Ezra's shirt, clinging to him as she buried her face in his neck.

She felt bad for not believing Ezra when he told her Matt was a threat but at least not he was gone and it was just the two of them.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Ezra nodded his head, squeezing her ever so more tightly.

**Hope you guys liked this! You all wanted Ezra to beat Matt up so he did haha. This was supposed to be longer but something came up so I'm going to update again either Wednesday or Thursday! Please please review or tweet me (proudofhale) I love hearing your feedback. Also if any of you want to see something specific happen tell me and I will try to include it :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you guys for the reviews! Here is the next chapter as I promised!**

"What happened?" Ella breathed. She had her hand on her chest and kept looking between Aria and Ezra who were on the couch and the door Matt had just stormed out of. She looked to Mike for some sort of explanation but he just held his hands up to say he had no idea what was going on either.

Ezra looked over at Ella and then back to Aria who was staring at the floor. He wasn't sure if Aria wanted him to explain what had happened or if she would do it herself. Aria looked up momentarily at Ezra and lightly shook her head signaling she didn't want to go into details with her mother.

"Nothing," she murmured to Ella. She bit her lip and wiped away the few tears that had fallen from her eyes before standing up.

"It sure didn't look like nothing," Ella said. Her face expressed the concern she felt for Aria as well as the confusion she held for the situation.

"I don't want to talk about it," Aria mumbled.

Ella sighed before crossing her arms and nodding her head figuring Aria would be too stubborn to budge on this. She gave Aria soft smile before walking back into the kitchen leaving Mike, Ezra, and Aria in the living room.

"Are you ok?" Mike quietly asked. He stepped closer to his sister the worriedness he felt etched across his features.

"Yeah," Aria slowly nodded her head before thickly swallowing.

"I'm here to talk if you want," Mike reminded her. Aria gave Mike an appreciative smile before he disappeared up the stairs and into his room.

"Can we go for drive?" Aria quickly asked as she turned around to face Ezra. "I just want to get away from here for a little bit," she explained.

"Of course," Ezra replied. He stared at Aria for a moment before pressing a kiss to her forehead and calling out to Ella to let her know where they were going.

Aria instinctively slipped her hand into Ezra's as they made their way out of the Montgomery household and to Ezra's car he had parked on the street last night.

Ezra didn't have any idea where he was going and Aria wasn't telling him anything so he figured he would just drive around aimlesly until Aria wanted to go home. He wanted to talk about what just happened to make sure she was ok but he also didn't want to pressure her if she wanted to keep to herself. Every couple of miles he would try to inconspicuously glance over at her, however her head never left the window it was resting on.

"You don't have to keep checking on me," Aria lifted her head up and looked at Ezra giving him a weary smile.

"I didn't think you could see me," he admitted.

"I could just tell," she shrugged.

Ezra swallowed and turned a corner before saying, "I'm worried about you." He sighed before glimpsing over at her before diverting his eyes back to the road.

"I'm fine really," Aria assured him. She smiled widely, but Ezra could see the grin wasn't sincere.

"No you're not," Ezra stated. He looked behind him before slowing down the car and pulling over on the side of the road. Luckily Ella's house wasn't right in the city so they were able to park without a problem.

Aria bit her lip, a telltale sign she was nervous, and curled a piece of her hair behind her ear, looking down at the floor of the car. Ezra took his hand off the steering wheel and lightly trailed his fingertips along the side of her jaw, gently lifting her face up.

"Talk to me," he whispered.

Aria sighed heavily as her eyes began to become slightly glassy. "I just felt so trapped," she explained. "It's stupid because obviously he wouldn't do anything with you and my mom in the next room over," Aria lightly shook her head.

"It's not stupid," Ezra responded. "You've been through a lot and I wouldn't blame you for reacting like that."

Aria let out a relived breath before moving closer to Ezra and wrapping her arms around his neck. Ezra smiled into her hair as she relaxed into his embrace her head finding its usual spot at the top of his shoulder.

"Can we just be here…for a minute?" Aria murmured her voice shaking slightly.

Ezra tightened his hold on her slightly, bringing his hand to rest on the back of her head. He slowly moved it up and down through her long tresses, the silky locks moving between his fingers.

"I love you Aria."

He felt Aria cuddle herself closer to him, if that were even possible, and took that as her response. It pained him to see Aria always being so distressed and only hoped that soon things would start to look up for her. Matt was one thing, but that on top of her father's death, he didn't know how she could still manage to not completely fall apart. He assumed the life she had lived for 3 years had toughened her up somewhat, but still he was always impressed with how strong she really was.

"Can we go home soon?" Aria spoke up moments later.

"Sure," Ezra replied, "Were only about ten minutes away," he told her.

Aria lifted her head up from the crook of Ezra's neck and shook her head. "I meant our home," she explained.

Ezra's heart swelled as the words "our home" fell from her lips as he instantly nodded his head. "We can go later on today," he suggested.

Aria gave him a small smile before reclining back into her seat. Ezra looked over at her in adoration before turning back to the steering wheel and pushing the keys into the ignition.

The drive back to Ella's house was silent for the most part but it was a comfortable one unlike the drive there that had been worrisome and awkward. He kept his hand on Aria's thigh, something they did quite often, every once in a while lightly squeezing it or running his thumb across the denim fabric of her jeans. Aria kept her hand pressed against his as she continued to stare off into the side of the window through the chilled glass of the car. It was a way they could feel connected when they weren't talking and it was comforting to always feel the other one's presence.

Even after spending so much time with each other, Ezra still felt that spark whenever their skin touched and he didn't think he would ever get tired of it. Turning back onto Ella's road he turned his hand upwards so his palm was touching Aria's before interlocking their fingers together.

…

"Will you call?" Ella wondered. She was slightly apprehensive asking Aria this especially since this was really the first time her and her daughter had gotten along in almost three years.

"I will," Aria smiled. She took a step towards her mother embracing her in a hug to Ella's surprise. Ella immediately hugged her back reveling in feeling of being so close to her daughter again.

Eventually Aria pulled back and went to give Mike a hug as well, as Ezra and Ella exchanged their goodbyes.

"Thank you again for everything Ezra," Ella stressed. "I really don't know where this family would be without you." She gave Ezra an appreciative smile before sticking out her hand for him to shake. Ezra almost laughed at her formal gesture and instead held out his arms offering a hug as if to say he could see her as part of his own family one day. Ella lightly chuckled before wrapping her arms around Ezra.

"Byron didn't get to see who you really are," Ella softly said in Ezra's ear. "He would have liked you."

…

"Please promise me you'll come visit?" Mike asked.

"Of course," Aria smiled. She pulled her younger brother into a hug squeezing him tightly. "I'm definitely not going to go three years without seeing you again."

"Good," Mike laughed.

Aria lightly ruffled Mike's hair before stepping back and looking to Ezra. "You ready?" she asked.

Ezra nodded and gave Mike a quick wave and smile before grabbing the coat Aria handed to him. Aria pulled her hair out from underneath her jacket before giving Ella and Mike one last smile and leaving out the door. Ezra followed directly after her as the two of them walked over to his car.

The drive back into the city and Ezra's apartment was longer than they expected as they encountered a lot of traffic. Soon Ezra could hear Aria's soft snores and looked over to see she had fallen asleep. Ezra smiled at how adorable she looked before turning back to the road and moving up a couple of feet. Watching Aria sleep had to be one of his favorite things especially with the way her nose scrunched up or how her soft breaths were almost rhythmic.

A loud horn blared behind him causing Ezra to flinch. He realized he'd zoned out thinking about Aria and the car in front of him had moved forward. If there was one thing about drivers in New York City it was that they were impatient and looking away from the road, for even a second, would not be smart.

He heard Aria groan softly next to him and figured the load sound had woken her up.

He saw her rub her eyes slightly and stretch out her arm before looking out the window.

"Sorry about that," Ezra apologized.

"It's ok," she smiled. "What even happened?" she asked.

Ezra ran one of his hands along the back of his neck chuckling slightly. "I was thinking about something and got distracted and didn't realize the car in front of me had moved up."

"What were you thinking about?" Aria wondered. She tilted her head to the side as she brought her head to rest in her hand that was leaning on the windowsill of the door.

"You," Ezra confessed as he glanced over at Aria for a moment.

Aria blushed and giggled as she looked at her hands. "You're crazy," she laughed.

"Crazy about you," he corrected. Aria bit her lip and rolled her eyes at his comment trying to contain her laughter.

Ezra gave her one of his boyish smiles before offering her the option to turn on the radio as they would probably be stuck here for a little while.

Aria sat up in her seat and turned it on before flipping to a random station. A soft guitar began to play followed by the melodic sound of a man's vice.

Aria turned to Ezra to find him already looking at her a grin spread across his face.

"Joe's Pizzeria," Aria murmured.

"Song B-26," he replied.

"B-26," she repeated.

Aria looked at Ezra in amazement before leaning herself up against his arm as they sat in the traffic, just listening to the song. Aria remembered back when they had met and Ezra insisted on buying her a meal. She never would have thought that it could have led to this and truthfully she hadn't been sure she would ever get out of her life on the streets. She couldn't believe Ezra had remembered that moment at the pizza place when they had listened to this song but smiled as she recalled the memory.

She looked up at Ezra for a moment her heart practically aching with how much love she felt for him.

_Happiness is just outside my window_

It was in that moment that Aria really realized that she couldn't honestly think of any other place that she would rather be. Even though she hadn't known Ezra for that long, she was sure that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He was her boyfriend, her best friend, and most importantly her happiness.

**Hope you guys liked this! Sorry it was short, I literally couldn't think at all because I'm so tired. Please please please leave a review though and I will update soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I haven't updated in a while and I know I suck, I'm sorry. **

**Oh and I'm going to pretend Aria grew up in a town called Rosewood too but it's in NY not PA.**

Ezra tossed his coat onto the couch in his living room, smiling to himself as he watched Aria hang hers up. No matter how many times he told her it she could just throw her jacket wherever, Aria insisted she would do no such thing and would proceed to tell him something like a messy house equals a messy mind.

"I know what you're thinking," Aria smirked as she looked at Ezra from around the coat rack as she zipped up the zipper to her jacket on its hanger.

Ezra flashed her a boyish smile before collapsing onto his couch and putting his hands behind his head.

"Glad to be home?" Aria asked as she took in Ezra's relieved demeanor, his legs now stretched out in front of him.

Ezra nodded and spread his arms out signaling he wanted Aria to join him. Aria gave him a small smile before sliding in next to him and curling up to his side.

"To be honest I'm glad we're back too," Aria admitted. "Rosewood holds a lot of memories I'd rather not remember."

Ezra lightly moved his finger back and forth on Aria's side his head finding a place to rest on top of hers. "Well we're here now and it's just the two of us," he reminded her before moving to brush his lips against her hair.

Aria closed her eyes for a moment focusing on the whisper of a touch Ezra's mouth was leaving behind before it quickly moved to another spot on her head. She could slowly feel her consciousness slipping the day's events having worn her out completely. Between everything with Matt and saying goodbye to her family saying she was emotionally and physically exhausted would be an understatement.

Even though Aria had slept a lot in the car, Ezra could tell she was extremely tired by the fight she was putting up trying to keep her eyelids open. Ezra lightly moved his hand through her dark brown tresses knowing she found it relaxing as they just laid together in each other's arms.

Ezra felt himself getting drowsy too, Aria's body wrapped around him providing just enough warmth to make the position they were in very comfortable. Soon he could feel his muscles becoming heavier and his breathing more steady as he eventually drifted off to sleep along with Aria.

LB

Aria pressed the button for the elevator her eyes trained on the illuminated circle. A sharp ding soon sounded indicating the doors would open momentarily. She quickly stepped inside, leaning against the wall as other people who lived in the apartment building filed in. Hanna had just dropped Aria off after driving home from work together, as Aria felt bad having Ezra drive her every single day. Ezra swore it didn't bother him at all but still Aria felt like it was unfair to him.

Soft chatter filled the small metal chamber, every so often one or two people stepping out to go to their floor. Finally it reached the level Ezra's apartment resided on, and Aria squeezed her way through the remaining people to get to the hallway.

…

Ezra had spent most of his day lounging around like usual when he didn't have Aria there to occupy his time. He was beyond happy that she had a job but he never realized how boring his life was until he finally found something or rather someone that made it interesting.

All that changed though when he heard a knock on his door followed by the infamous voice of Hardy calling out "Z!"

Ezra chuckled lightly and shook his head at his friends' use of his college nickname before hopping up from the table he was sitting out to open the door.

"What did I say about not being a stranger?" Hardy gave him a pointed look and thumped his hand against Ezra's chest before seeing himself in.

Ezra playfully rolled his eyes and shut his front door before following Hardy into his kitchen. His best friend had already opened up his fridge and was rummaging for something to eat as if it were his own house he was in.

"Seriously though, we haven't talked in weeks," Hardy said as he took a bite of an apple he had found.

"I've just been really busy," Ezra sighed as he brought his hand to rest on the back of his neck.

Hardy gave him a "really" look before walking over to Ezra's couch and sitting down with is feet resting on the coffee table in front of it.

"What is this?" Hardy asked as he held up a woman's scarf he had found near the foot of the couch a knowing smile on his face.

"Oh um that's that friend I was telling you about a while back right after I ended it with Jackie," Ezra explained. "We're sort of together now."

"The hot one?" Hardy clarified.

Ezra scowled at Hardy before replying, "Yes the hot one."

"Is she coming here soon?" Hardy asked his eyes lighting up and a grin spreading across his face.

"Yes but please don't be a perv," Ezra pushed on Hardy's shoulder before sitting down on the couch next to him.

Hardy held his hands up as if he were innocent before saying, "I just want to see the girl that has my best friend so enamored," he laughed.

"Nice vocab word," Ezra teased. Hardy had definitely not been very scholarly in college so hearing him say words like that still sounded weird to Ezra.

"Funny," Hardy scrunched up his face before falling back onto the cushions of the couch and grabbing the remote that rested on one of the side tables.

…

Aria finally made it to Ezra's apartment door as she fumbled around in her coat pocket for her key. She eventually grasped the small piece of metal in her hands and pulled it out before sliding it into the lock. She heard two male voices and what sounded like a basketball game coming from inside as she walked further into the apartment.

Hardy and Ezra looked up from the T.V. as Aria stepped into the living room giving a small wave to the two of them.

"Is this her?" Hardy smiled as he looked over to Ezra. Ezra nodded before looking back to Aria giving her a look that said "sorry" to which Aria just giggled.

Hardy strode across Ezra's apartment and lightly grasped Aria's hand before pressing a soft kiss to the top of her hand. "Very nice to meet you," he grinned.

Aria could see Ezra rolling her eyes at his friends behavior as he walked over to join the two of them. "Aria this is my friend Hardy," Ezra introduced him. "We met in college," he explained.

"Well it's very nice to meet you too," Aria laughed as she bit her lip and looked at Hardy.

"Can we all go out?" Hardy asked as he glanced between Aria and Ezra. "I need a beer and Ezra," Hardy stressed his name and lightly hit his chest, "doesn't have any."

Ezra shrugged and looked to Aria for her approval to which she smiled and gave a small nod.

"You're driving," Hardy told Ezra as he grabbed his coat and started walking out the door. Ezra shook his head and chuckled before grabbing Aria's hand and following him out.

"So Hardy's quite the character," Aria giggled as they walked a couple of paces behind said person.

"That's one word," Ezra reasoned. He looked down at Aria and smiled before lightly pecking the top of her head. "I swear I don't know how we're friends sometimes," he laughed.

"Heard that," Hardy called out. He turned around for a moment and sneered at Ezra before turning back.

"You were meant to," Ezra teasingly retorted.

LB

"You want something while I'm up there," Hardy jutted his thumb towards the bar he was headed too while Aria slid in next to Ezra at their booth.

"I'll just have whatever you're getting," Ezra said.

"I'm okay," Aria held up her hands and lightly shook her head.

Hardy nodded before pulling out his wallet and making his way over to where the bartender was standing.

"You sure you don't want anything?" Ezra asked as he interlocked their hands together on the top of the glossy wooden table.

"Well technically I'm not even old enough to drink and I'm not really hungry or anything," Aria explained.

Truthfully Ezra had completely forgotten about her age. She acted so mature all of the time it hit him like a ton of bricks to be reminded that she was only recently turned 19.

He stared down at Aria who was luckily watching some live performance his eyes trailing the features of her face. He had to admit she looked young, perhaps even younger than she was, but the second she opened her mouth it was obvious she was much wiser than her years.

"Maybe you should get up there," Aria smiled as she pointed to the stage where someone was now reading a poem they wrote.

"Maybe _you_ should get up there," Ezra responded.

"Fair enough," she shrugged. Aria flashed him a smile before leaning into his chest, Ezra's arm now draped around her shoulder. Ezra's fingers lightly coiled a piece of Aria's hair around themselves before releasing the locks only to repeat the process.

Soon they could see Hardy barreling through the crowd drinks in hand a huge grin plastered across his face.

"One for you," he slid Ezra's mug of beer towards him, "One for me. And I got you one just in case you changed your mind," Hardy told Aria as he slid her glass near her.

Aria politely smiled and thanked him even though she had no intention of drinking it, not wanting to risk getting caught and getting Ezra and/or Hardy in trouble.

LB

"So I hook up with her in the library, but you can't get serious in the sociology stacks right?" Hardy took a swig of his drink before leaning back and continuing his story. "So I take her back to my dorm room-"

"I can't believe you're telling this story," Ezra interrupted as he sighed.

"Let him finish I want to hear," Aria laughed. She lightly bumped shoulders with Ezra as she rested her hand on his knee.

"She wants to hear," Hardy held up his hands. "So I get her back, he," Hardy pointed his finger at Ezra, "is sounds asleep of course."

Aria giggled at Hardy's small jab actually finding it adorable that Ezra was probably one of those really nerdy college kids.

"I get her shirt off things are happening, life is good and then this geek right here starts laughing in his sleep," Hardy laughs. "And he's done this before but this chick would just not believe he was asleep."

"Which I was," Ezra said.

"You laugh in your sleep?" Aria asked followed by a nod from Ezra. "Why haven't I heard it before?"

Ezra shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you weren't listening hard enough," he proposed.

"Well that's really cute," Aria smiled as she slid the tiniest bit closer to Ezra.

"Have any good college stories Aria?" Hardy asked completely oblivious to the small moment Aria and Ezra were just having.

"I actually didn't go to college," Aria admitted. "I might go eventually though if I can get the money," she figured.

"Oh really you just seemed really smart I guess I assumed," Hardy explained. Ezra noticed Hardy was eyeing Aria ever so slightly but luckily she seemed too preoccupied with looking around the restaurant to detect it.

"I'm going to grab another one of these," Hardy held up his now empty glass, "Ezra can you come with me?"

"You can't go yourself?" Ezra teased even though he did find it kind of odd for him to be asking anyway.

"No," Hardy said on a more serious note. He began walking towards the bar as Ezra reluctantly slid out of the booth and followed him.

"Dude," Hardy sighed. "What are you doing?"

Ezra furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about exactly?"

"How old is she?"

"19," Ezra said. He could see a slightly disapproving expression flash across Hardy's face before he turned around to grab his new glass from the bartender. "It's not like she's under 18," Ezra defended himself.

"No," Hardy agreed, "she's not. But you _are _7 years older than her," he reminded him.

"So," Ezra replied. He ran his hand along the back of his neck as he inconspicuously glanced back at Aria.

"So, you're at completely different stages in your life," Hardy clarified.

"She's actually really mature for her age," Ezra snapped. He could see Hardy was slightly taken aback by his tone of voice but he didn't understand why he was questioning him about this all of a sudden.

"Exactly," Hardly merely stated. "She's 19 and acting as if she's 30. Don't you want her to experience being a child instead of settling down with you before she's even 20? And I know she's living there with you so obviously it's not some fling and is pretty serious."

"Why are you doing this?" Ezra asked. He sighed heavily as he dragged hand down his face.

"I'm just looking out for you," Hardy explained. "Young girls are known to be pretty fickle and I don't want you getting hurt if she realizes this isn't what she wants."

Ezra swallowed thickly as Hardy's words continued to burrow themselves deeper and deeper into his head. Was he preventing Aria from enjoying her life by expecting too much of her at such a young age? It'd never really crossed his mind before but Hardy was right in that Aria had never had that teenage/young adult experience that he remembered was one of the fondest times of his life. He wanted Aria to have the chance to explore the world but he wasn't sure he could just pick up his stuff and go anywhere with her. His publisher was in New York City, his apartment was in New York City…his life was in New York City.

He hated to admit it but Hardy did have a valid point. His mind was swarmed with these thoughts as him and Hardy walked back over to where Aria was at the table an awkward silence developing between the two of them.

"Did I miss something or?" Aria looked between Hardy and Ezra a concerned expression gracing her features as the two guys refused to meet each other's eyes.

"It's nothing," Ezra dismissed. "We should probably get going though."

"Ok," Aria said, the confusion and apprehension still very prevalent in her voice.

"It was nice to meet you Aria," Hardy looked up from his glass and gave her a small smile accompanied with a wave.

"You too," she smiled back as she held out her hand for him to shake which he did.

Ezra gave Hardy a nod as some type of acknowledgement before taking Aria's hand and leading her out of the restaurant.

"Don't we need to drive him back to your place?" Aria wondered as Ezra continued to pull her towards his car they had parked on the side of the street.

"He can walk," Ezra said his tone completely indifferent. "Or take the subway."

Aria nodded not wanting to press the issue further since Ezra had already told her it was no big deal. She hoped he felt that he could talk to her and if not eventually maybe he would learn too.

Ezra pulled his car keys from his pocket, pressing the unlock button a sharp beep sounding signaling they could get in.

"I had a lot of fun today," Aria said as she and Ezra each shut their doors. She gave Ezra a soft smile as she rested her hand on his arm before dragging it down to his hand. She gave it a light squeeze and leaned over the console to brush her lips against his cheek.

She moved her lips over slightly about to press a kiss to his lips but she could have sworn she felt him turn his head even if it was just a fraction of an inch.

"Ezra is something wrong?" Aria pulled back from his lips and looked at him worriedly. "Did Hardy say something?"

"You're 19," Ezra stated.

Aria looked at him quizzically before nodding and saying, "Yes I am."

"And I'm 26."

"Yes you are."

"Aria," Ezra began. He grasped her hands in his, resting them on the arm rest between them. "These past few weeks have been some of the best in my entire life and I'm being completely honest when I say that." He swallowed and looked at their intertwined hands before looking back up at Aria's face. "You're so young and you have _so_ much left to experience and I don't want you to feel like you can't go off and go to college later on when that might be an option."

Aria scrunched her nose up and bit her lip a tightening feeling beginning to form in her throat. "Why does it feel like you're breaking up with me?"

"I'm not I promise you that," Ezra assured. "I just…Hardy made me wonder if there really can be a happy ending for us? It would _kill_ me to know that you missed out on something because of me."

Ironically it was killing Ezra right now to see the way Aria was looking at him, but it had to be said right?

A lone tear cascading down Aria's cheek sent Ezra over the edge though causing him to immediately pull her into his arms.

"Age has never been an issue before," Aria mumbled into his neck in between sobs.

"When it's just the two of us," Ezra said. "But being out with Hardy and listening to him tell you that college story made me realize you've never had that and there's a chance you never will."

"I don't want that," Aria whispered. "I just want you." She pulled back from their embrace and stared back at Ezra trying to convey how she felt to him.

"I want you to," Ezra murmured. He brushed his knuckles across her cheek, bringing his hand to rest on her neck.

**Hope you guys liked this! As you can tell it was very heavily influenced by episode 1x05 haha. Also the whole age thing is my favorite part about ezria so I really wanted to incorporate it somehow and this will become something they struggle and deal with as a couple. I promise I will try to update soon and it definitely won't be as long of a wait. **

**And to the reviewer who wanted a sex chapter, I'll do one soon lol!**

**Please please review and tweet/follow me on twitter (proudofhale) :)**


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